FROM RAVEN'S NEST Jul 7, 2015

Seduction Versus Production

Dr Raven Dolick MsD

July 7, 2015

"Seduction is, at all times and in all places, opposed to production." ~ Baudrillard

"Men use power to get sex. Women use sex to get power." ~ Tom Wolfe

In his book 'On Seduction', the late French philosopher Jean Baudrillard argued that there are two modes of love. The female mode is centred on seduction, which is imaginative and symbolic. It is about flirtation, oblique glances, whispered promises, and always seeks to defer the sex act. It employs makeup and fashion to tantalise, emphasize and beguile. Titillating gestures, double entendres and mysterious codes are essential to seduction. It trades in ambiguity and seeks to take control over the symbolic rather than "real" order of things. It revolves around delayed gratification. It is always putting off the moment of consummation, while never saying no to it.

The male mode of love concerns production (we might say that each "fuck" is a commodity and that men want to produce as many as possible), and is unimaginative and direct. While female seduction lures men into a dark, unknown space - the realm of the vagina, so to speak - male love is centred on the known and visible, on the phallus and on penetration. It is like a Cruise missile that wants to get to its target as directly as possible in order to detonate (ejaculate). It seeks to get the job done fast. Whereas female seduction concerns the symbolic order, male love is focused on mastering the real order - the physical completion of the sex act. It is about instant gratification.

Men are simple, direct creatures obsessed with production, completion and simplicity. Women are complex, indirect and painstaking artists rather than production-line manufacturers. Where men are focused on quantity, women prize quality. Where men are unsubtle, women elevate subtlety into a work of art. Men head straight for the target, following the path of least resistance, while woman circle round and take a long route in which the resolve of men is tested to the maximum. Women seek to resist men's short-term objectives.

The French writer Stendhal described the male pursuit of a woman in terms of a siege of a castle. If the castle (a woman's honour) fell too soon, she was dishonoured. If the siege went on too long, the man was humiliated. Timing was of the essence. A man must not storm the castle too brutally, and the woman must not reinforce its defences too effectively. A perfect romance involves perfect timing where the woman's honour is preserved and the man saved from humiliation. It is the woman who decides when the siege is over, hence plays the crucial role. She makes or breaks a romance.

Men always complain about the ridiculous small talk and "beating about the bush" that they have to go through before they get what they want - a fuck. Women always complain that men are like Neanderthals with only one thing on their minds.

Men, on average, have an enormously higher libido than women. Most women have no idea how off the scale male sexuality is. Gay men have the most sex. Why? Because there are no coy, resistant women in the equation. Gay men are highly promiscuous on average and complete the sex act extremely rapidly, and many often with total strangers. Straight men have exactly the same objectives, but their plans are always thwarted by women. Lesbians have the fewest sexual partners; there are no men on the scene to constantly press them for sexual favours so both partners can indulge in a long and complex seduction.

The average man is much more interested in porn than the average woman. Porn rapidly gets down to business. The "money shot" is never delayed too long. Women are much more interested in the erotic rather than the pornographic. They want a story and some kind of emotional contact and meaning.

Consider activities such as striptease and burlesque. They are about tantalising the male imagination. The art is in how slowly a woman can disrobe, how fevered she can make her audience in anticipation of the final unveiling. The performer is operating in the symbolic realm. Each item she removes is heavy with symbolic weight, and gets heavier as she reaches the items that conceal the things the men most want to see. As she reaches the final item, she is moving incredibly slowly, magnifying every gesture, every tiny adjustment of the last garment which conceals the holy grail. Men's eyes are bulging and their tongues hanging out. They are literally drooling. Yet what is about to be revealed is something they have seen countless times before and in some senses is an absence rather than a presence. Women are nevertheless able to transform it symbolically into the sanctum sanctorum, the holy of holies, where the goddess resides…Venus herself.

Think of the ultimate striptease…Salome's dance of the seven veils. So seductive was it, so potent and infinitely bewitching, that it cost a prophet his life. It was the perfect performance. It gripped Herod's imagination and never let go.

Advertising is a devious synthesis of seduction and production. The advertisements seduce the consumers into buying things that have been mass-produced. The aim is not to uplift humanity or play a fascinating emotional game, but merely to bring profits to some greedy capitalist pig.

We need a new synthesis of seduction and production, one that is not geared to mindless consumerism and capitalism, one that is not based on financial transactions, but is instead about leading us to higher spirituality.

Men want to go straight to gnosis, but in fact the nature of the dialectical route to gnosis is one that demands seduction in all of its forms. Seduction is the antithesis of the direct route. Seduction provides the contradictions, mysteries, resistances and obstacles that are needed to breathe life into the dialectic.

Seduction - the eternal feminine - is the sacred aspect of life that promotes mystery and imagination. It is based on Mythos and Sophia (story and wisdom), whereas the male approach is based on the battering ram and the sheer penetrative power of Logos. We need Mythos, Logos and Sophia all working in harmony. We don't have nearly enough seduction in our real lives; and we have far too much of it in the hyperreal world of the screen - the authentic Matrix.

Seduction can lead us out of the labyrinth. Seduction can lead us higher. We need priestesses and goddesses to bring seduction into the ordinary world. And through seduction, we oppose production. We transfer power from men to women, from capitalism to a just and bespoke economic system based on quality rather than quantity.

Remember, seduction is on the side of quality and production on the side of quantity. We have to escape the production lines, the sausage factories, the one-size-fits-all mentality. Those things all belong to the male obsession with production. Every aspect of life should seduce us, and there's nothing about mass production that is remotely seductive.

Jean Baudrillard writes in Seduction:

1 ) "Seduction represents mastery over the symbolic universe, while power represents only mastery of the real universe."

2 ) "This transubstantiation of sex into signs is the secret of all seduction."

3 ) "[Seduction] is a game, sex is a function."

4 ) "Since Machiavelli politicians have perhaps always known that the mastery of a simulated space is at the source of their power, that politics is not a real activity, but a simulation model, whose manifest acts are but actualised impressions."

5 ) "The strategy of seduction is one of deception."

6 ) "To wear meaning out, to tire it out in order to liberate the pure seduction of the null signifier or empty term - such is the strength of ritual magic and incantation."

7 ) "If you were to see written on a door panel: 'This opens onto the void.' - wouldn't you still want to open it?...That which looks onto nothing has every reason to never be forgotten. That which is arbitrary is simultaneously endowed with a total necessity."

8 ) "Seduction is never linear…it is oblique."

9 ) "Vulgar seduction might proceed by persistence, but true seduction proceeds by absence; or better it invents a kind of curved space, where the signs are deflected from their trajectory and returned to their source.

10 ) "The seducer knows how to let the signs hang. He knows that they are favourable only when left suspended, and will move of themselves towards their appointed destiny."

*****

Whereas production makes tangible things, seduction produces illusions, and these are much more powerful. The world of ideas is what mesmerizes us, not the world of objects.

Baudrillard speaks of the power of the "insignificant signifier" - "the mind is irresistibly attracted to a place devoid of meaning."

Why should that be? Because human beings are "meaning generators". When we look at random clouds passing overhead, we start converting them into meaningful shapes. Why? Because that's what minds do. They impose meaning. So, what is more exciting than the void? What greater challenge is there? Did not the cosmic mind summon the physical world out of "nothing". And why? In order to organize it, in order to give it meaning, in order to see itself reflected in the mirror of materialism.

Cinema is all about seduction. Suspense movies seduce us with the possibility of what surprise may come next. Horror movies seduce us with the possibility that we may not be able to bear what is coming. Mystery movies seduce us with the possibility of unravelling the greatest puzzles of our existence. Romance movies seduce us with the delight of the possibility of perfect love. Comedies seduce us with the possibility of riotous laughter. Fantasy movies seduce us with the possibility of imagining ourselves in another world. Science fiction seduces us with the possibility of glimpsing the future. Action movies seduce us with the possibility of spectacles that take our breath away. Thrillers seduce us with the possibility of an emotional roller coaster.

For good or ill, we are being seduced all the time.

From Raven's Nest Jul 6, 2015

Sin For Salvation

Dr Raven Dolick M.s.D.

July 6, 2015

Sin for Salvation is the road to redemption. It opens your eyes to the truth. Reject the Old World Order's system of control. Find your own paths through life. An experiment in Europe showed that people drive better when traffic lights (systems of control) are removed. So it is with sin. People will be more moral when all the codes of morality are turned off and people are able to use their own judgement to decide what is right and wrong.

Usually, the sexual aspect of Sin for Salvation is emphasised, as it is here, but in fact Sin for Salvation applies to everything. It's a mindset. It's about not buying into the laws and attitudes of those who would control you. It's about having an open mind about what "sin" actually is. It's about not automatically subscribing to someone else's conception of sin. There are many sins in this world - such as the infinite greed of Wall Street bankers and their ilk - that are held up as virtues and qualities to be emulated. Always be on the lookout for sins that masquerade as goodness. Always be on the lookout for healthy activities that are condemned as sinful.

The captains of Wall Street break no laws when they bury their snouts in the money trough - because they themselves constructed the laws. But we all know that these people are morally wrong. We all know they should be stopped. So why aren't we doing something? The law is not there to protect us but to prevent us from acting against them.

Arthur Rimbaud, the radical and extraordinary 19th Century French poet, came into contact with the French chapter of the Illuminati and they inspired him to seek his higher self.

Rimbaud famously said, "The poet becomes a seer through a long, immense, and reasoned derangement of all the senses."

"…[he becomes] the great invalid, the great criminal, the great damned - and the supreme Sage!"

Rimbaud was one of the least conventional men in history. He paid no heed at all to the controllers.

The Marquis de Sade, Baudelaire, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Aleister Crowley, Antonin Artaud, William Blake are all other good examples of people who rejected the conventions of society. They are role models for those seeking freedom from the control matrix. Postmodernism: deconstruction, the death of the grand narrative, the death of the author, the death of art, the death of God, the death of the real, hyperreality, the "other", "excluded histories" - it all helps to challenge the dominance of the prevailing control narrative. Everyone should become a postmodernist.

Hieronymus Bosch's famous painting The Garden of Earthly Delights is a symbolic depiction of a Sin for Salvation ceremony.

The Illuminati promote the two Gnostic paths: asceticism and licentiousness. Some members favour one over the other; some alternate between the two. Which do you prefer?

So, it's up to you. Find the ways that allow you to escape the control matrix of the Old World Order. Embrace transgression: it's only a label. Practise sex magic if that's what you like. Participate in Dionysian rites. The OWO have always hated unrestrained sexual activity because of its power to disrupt networks of control. We live in a highly sexualised society and yet it's "capitalist" sex - used for making money - rather than true, raw, passionate sex. In fact, the OWO want to swamp us with images of sex that make us part with our money, but they don't want us to actually have sex, or rather they want us to have sex within the narrow confines of "family and religion". It's all part of their control system.

Arguably, we have never lived in a more repressed and Puritanical society. Baudrillard said that Disneyland was built to conceal the fact that the whole of America is now an infantilised fantasy world. In the case of sex, sexual imagery is deployed everywhere to conceal the fact that humanity has never been more anti-sex. How is it possible to have sex "scandals" in a world so apparently awash with sex and with such an allegedly liberal attitude towards sex? In ancient Greece and Rome, orgies, pornography and promiscuity were taken for granted. Many cultures throughout history, especially those concerned with liberation, have embraced extreme sexuality. In the 1960s, hippies told everyone to make love, not war. Where are the hippies now? We certainly know where the wars are. The control matrix loves war and hates sex. The hippies are now the generals. Isn't that the way the world works?

"Thou Shalt Not," the controllers say.

"Thou Shalt, Thou Shalt, Thou Shalt, Thou Shalt, Thou Shalt," we say.

Reject their Mind Control.

Their sins are false.

Sin for Salvation.

FROM RAVEN'S NEST Jul 5, 2015

Which Element Are You?

Dr Raven Dolick M.s.D.

July 5, 2015

all rights reserved

Discovering the Five Elements to Find, Make, and Keep Lasting Love

Whether you're currently in a long-term, committed relationship, or j...ust beginning your soul mate search, romantic partners can be confusing. Perhaps you connect fantastically with your new lover in the bedroom...but not so much anywhere else. Perhaps the opposite is true: your relationship feels perfect in every way except when it enters the bedroom.

How can partnerships match up in some ways, but not others? How can we learn to be ourselves—and give our partners the same privilege—without causing friction?

The answers to these questions (and many others) are found in the 3,000 year-old ancient Chinese secret of The Five Elements. It's all about your energy. Whether you know it or not, your energy is interacting with your lover's energy, everyday, twenty-four hours a day. Yes, even while you sleep together, your energies are co-mingling! With the power of the Five Elements, discover what you truly want in a relationship, find a lover who matches you energetically, and make your relationship longer-lasting and romantically charged. By learning the Elemental Energy types of you and your partner, you can build a true connection without unrealistic expectations.

First, take a romantic and spiritual journey to discover a mystical and magical new world…and the first assignment is looking at yourself. You must understand your true, authentic self before you can understand anyone else.

What Are the Chinese Elements?

Sometime in the past, about three thousand years ago (nobody knows exactly when), ancient Chinese scholars, philosophers, and physicians began documenting theories of the Five Elements—Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water on human behavior and the nature of energy in the universe.

The Five Elements don't only relate to love; they relate to everything, including the seasons of the year. They influence every aspect of life and even how people move. Every movement you make is influenced energetically by these Five Elements.

What Element are you: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, or Water?

Every person has all Five energies—just in a different order, or what we call your "stack up" of Elements. Your first Element is what your current lover responds to most often. It's also the Element that motivates you in life. It is the primary way you move in life and in love. Our new book, The Energy of Love, presents various ways to identify key traits and attributes of the Five Elements in any person, so you can identify your first Element (as well as your others) and that of your partner.

Read the descriptions below to see which Element resonates with you more than the others:

•Wood: Winning in the Bedroom and in the Boardroom

Are you the type of person that sets a goal for everything you do?

If you're the Wood Element, then you're a natural leader with a friendly yet commanding tone of voice. When you speak, people come to attention (not to mention dogs). When you're in a good place in life, you can be quite charismatic when you want to be. You're playful, fun-loving, good at negotiating deals (big or small), and gracious when winning competitive events. In a mate, you might be looking for someone who is interested in doing interesting things with you, someone who can keep up with the flurry of activities and hobbies you might have.

You like to do big things in life. Simple dating isn't enough; you need to make sure your dates have the best experiences possible, especially in the beginning of the romance. When you're happy, everyone is happy—and you're happy when you can make your lover happy. Some Elemental types enjoy slow, lazy sex. Not Wood! For Wood, sex is an athletic event—with a lot of sweat and effort for the ultimate achievement. You strive for the win-win in the bedroom as well as in the boardroom.

Woods can sometime approach dating like it's fourth quarter at the Super Bowl with two minutes left on the clock. You've got a goal, and a strategy, and it's time to execute the plan. You find the best restaurant and somehow get a table reservation. You might love to find the best cool thing to do for a first date (hot air balloon, hike to a secret waterfall, or VIP box seats at a baseball game.) You can tackle all this with the seriousness of negotiating an important contract. If you are really into someone, you're intent on winning them over, no matter what. It is the Wood way.

•Fire: Too Hot to Handle?

Are you the type who cares more about people than things?

Fires are very talkative, friendly, and full of smiles! They can sometimes be a bit shy and vulnerable, especially with new people they meet, but they are always smiling. At first, dating can make you uncomfortable and uneasy, so you may not do the dating thing a lot. You are constantly putting your heart out on your sleeve, and you might find yourself compensating by talking too much or not enough. Once you're sure the new person likes you, you can start to relax and be yourself.

Romance is in the air, and your heart is a flutter. Do you approach dating like it's a flirting contest, both bold and shy at the same time? Do you prefer to have a quiet romantic dinner and then perhaps dance the night away or go somewhere and talk so you can gaze in each other's eyes on a starry night? Romantic sigh.

Once you're sure your new love is really into you, you can turn up the heat and be very hot in bed, burning up those sheets like a fireman heading to a four-alarm fire! You also want to give and receive love at the same time so that you can both feel a deep heart connection, so a lover who is the taking-turns-type is just not going to work for you. Connection through the eyes is a true sign of Fires, and a major facet of the Fire Element in love.

•Earth Makes the World Go Round

Are you the type of person who really cares (and listens) and takes care of everyone?

You love sharing food, thoughts, and caring all the time. Earth is very even, centered, social, and friendly (in the boy or girl next door kind of way). You're the reliable kind, like old school "good marrying" material—sensual but steady is a good way. Don't think this is boring by any means; Earth can be very romantic and make little earthquakes in the bedroom—so to speak.

Your idea of a date isn't quite so elaborate as other Elements. Do you prefer a romantic evening cooking a four-course meal, sharing bottle of wine, and talking about deep meanings of life? Sharing interesting ideas and philosophies is your idea of foreplay! Being intimate isn't just a meeting of two bodies, but of two minds as well.

Sex for Earth is a sensual, slow, sharing event. You want to really give to your lover and take turns receiving. You have an innate sense of what will feel fantastic for your lover. Everything can be slow. Connection occurs through touch and sharing. You support your lovers, and your support is reliable and constant. Earth can move mountains if they are so motivated for a lover.

•Metal: The Oh-So-Cool Metal Factor

Are you the type who hangs back and waits for people to come to you in a mysterious, alluring kind of way?

You like to be mellow and hang out with friends on a regular basis. But when you have a new lover, you like to be very romantic, even chivalrous! You have a mystery about you that people are attracted to, and they often pursue you with fervor. You love being the object of pursuit. Why not?

Do you approach a date like a limo driver, ready to quietly serve with extreme attentiveness and respect? Your romantic dreamy dates might include a quiet walk through a museum, a tandem bike ride, or a beautiful drive in the country with your date. The quietness is a time to connect so they can evaluate your level of sincerity. Metals prefer authenticity in their close romantic connections.

Your slower nature also shows up in bed. Sex for Metals is an experience of the senses that requires taking your time and enjoying whatever you're doing. Why rush when you can take all night? Sensuality takes on a whole new meaning with Metal, as they can be white-hot lovers all night long.

•Water: Ripple, or Raging River of Love?

Are you the type of person who loves to be silly and laugh hysterically?

You like intensity, whether it's laughing hysterically, acting silly, or doing something a little dangerous (but always within your safety zone). You might want to go hang-gliding with your lover or sit on the couch and play an intense hang-gliding video game. Both are fun, and either is okay with you! You want someone who likes to do those things, too. How about going to an amusement park, a huge rock concert, or perhaps a night out for hilarity at the local comedy show. After a bit of intensity, you also like to relax and think about your next adventure together—so having someone to be a couch potato with after a day of fun is great way to shore up the romance.

For Water Elements, sex can be like an electrifying surge of energy in bed. The question is: Can your partner keep up with this intensity? You like to build up the energy and then make it last, anticipating, but keeping the crescendo from ending. With your lovers, you can feel a deep, wordless connection. Waters go with the flow and love being in that flow.

Love: Want It, Find It, Keep It!

Want It

Finding your energetic match isn't as easy as saying that all Waters are attracted to Fires, or that all Woods love Metals. Ha! If only it were that easy! Unfortunately, such magical formulae for a lonely heart are oversimplifications of how energy works.

In fact, the type of person you're attracted to energetically is much more about where you are in your life, today, right now. Most people go through different periods of their lives where they're more attracted to a particular energy or another. These attractions shift and change as you mature. In your younger years, you might want someone who is your opposite energy. Opposites attract, right? It's true in the Five Elements as well. If you look at the majority of young adult relationships, you'll find this to be true energetically. They often pick people who are very different, which amplifies the sexual attraction. Conversely, people in midlife often gravitate to relationships that are very compatible and may not have as much sexual "heat" initially.

The question is: what type of relationship do you want right now in your life?

To find the relationship you're looking for, first take some time to evaluate where you are in your life. Usually lovers have different energy types. Truthfully, it can be a little boring to partner with someone who is the same energy—like dating yourself. But maybe you just want someone to really, truly get you like no other. Dating someone of the same energy type would achieve this goal. Or perhaps you want a relationship with more spice and fire? Someone with the opposite energy will bring you the excitement you're looking for. If you want something that feels easy and calm but with enough variety to make it interesting, you can find someone whose energy type is more compatible to yours. Let your stage of life guide you as to what you truly desire right now.

Find It

Once you determine what type of person you're looking for, The Energy of Love can help you identify that person. Imagine you're on a first date. You see that person drive up, get out of the car, and walk toward you. Just by how they walk, hold their bodies, and the tone of their voice, you can know within the first few minutes whether this is the type of energy you really want in your life right now. It doesn't have to be like winning the lottery to have a good first date.

If, after you start the first date, you are thinking this is not "the one," you can still enjoy the date of course, but now you can really decide if that second date is going to happen. You'll better know what you want and how to find love and romance. It's time to be true to yourself and not settle for the first person that comes along and is interested in you.

However, if this new person is the type you've been looking for, you'll now have some new tools to foster better communication. The Energy of Love explains the differences in how each Elemental type thinks, acts, and loves—to the point where you could almost predict how they will be energetically. Imagine knowing better what NOT to say on those first dates so you don't send that perfect lover running in the opposite direction!

Keep It

The Energy of Love won't just help you find your perfect lover. Once you've found that ideal partner, how are you going to hang onto that special someone?

The Five Elements bring acceptance to relationships. Understanding them helps you accept your lover's "quirks" as the normal behavior for people of their energy type. That way, when your partner does the darnedest things that used to make no sense whatsoever, you no longer feel compelled to ask your partner to be someone they're not.

This is the biggest gift to your relationship. From that place you can grow and learn in a positive way. You can even learn, from a place of acceptance, how to modify your natural behaviors because you love each other. We have found that in most cases, if both partners take an interest in the Five Elements and how it affects their relationship, they can work out their differences. It takes two to tango, so go out and dance the dance of a lifetime with The Energy of Love.

http://www.ravenstarenchantments.com/

FROM RAVEN'S NEST Jul 3, 2015

Dr Raven Dolick MsD RavenStar Enchantments

Visualization for People Who Have Trouble Visualizing

Visualization

Think you can't visualize? Not true.

When you crave something—say chocolate—you strongly sense chocolate in your mind. Perhaps you sense it through taste, texture, or appearance…even when that chocolate isn't anywhere in sight. When you're looking for your cell phone, you hold an image of that cell phone or perhaps a tactile sense of what it's like to hold it, even when you're not actually looking at it or holding it. And how, exactly, do you know your house from your neighbor's house? From an inner vision of what it looks like (or a sense of its general location) that you carry around with you wherever you go, naturally.

See what I mean?

Everyone can visualize, and everyone is literally doing so constantly. For magical purposes, we want to learn to channel this inherent ability in a way that helps us resonate with that which we want to manifest.

Because everything is vibration and like attracts like, this helps us draw our intentions into our life experience and essentially create the life we desire.

Now, as you may have noticed from my examples above, visualizing—in a metaphysical and magical sense—isn’t always, well, visual. It can be visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, taste-oriented, or any combination thereof. But when it comes to manifesting, the most important thing of all is the feeling or emotion behind the visualization. Once you know what it is you want to manifest, you want to also get clear on the feelings you want to experience as a result of your manifestation. Then you'll accompany your visualization with those feelings, visualizing and feeling that your intention is already manifested.

But how to begin when visualizing seems tough?

It's a simple answer, but a true one:

show up every day and do your best.

When I first started practicing visualization, I chose the intentions I wanted to manifest, and then I did my very best to visualize and feel as if they were already true.

Sometimes, the very best I could do was to think the words of my visualization affirmation-style, such as, "I am confident," or, "I make at least ____ per week." But the more I practiced and did my very best to have a sensory and emotional experience of these things as if they were already true, the easier it got.

To this day, I make it a part of my daily meditation to practice visualizing. I do this with the things I want to manifest, but also with the energetic qualities I want to conjure. For example, I do a daily clearing and shielding visualization for both myself and my home. I also surround my partner, my cat, and our cars in protective light. Now that I've gotten better at visualizing, I'll get sort of elaborate sometimes and visualize things like giant, spinning, sacred geometrical structures of light encompassing me. But this was not something I could do right out of the gate. I've built up to it little by little over time. And you can, too! In fact, you might start with the simple (and exceptionally useful!) visualization practices below.

Shield in light.

A daily shielding visualization is a must for magical practitioners, both for the visualization practice and for the metaphysical benefits! Simply relax comfortably with your spine straight and take some deep, relaxing breaths. Then envision a very bright sphere of light around yourself. See how bright you can imagine the light, and perhaps infuse even more brightness by recalling what it's like to glance at the blinding face of the sun. Set the intention that within this light, only love remains and through this light, only love may enter. Hold this vision until your focus begins to slightly wane.

Visualize starting a positive new habit.

Choose a new habit you'd like to adopt. Then, as soon as you open your eyes in the morning, or last thing before you drift off at night (or both), convince yourself that you already have this positive new habit in place. If it's exercising every day, think of how great it feels to exercise every day. Even if you haven't actually done it yet, feel as if you do it regularly and really make yourself believe it. Also think of the reason you'd like to manifest this: So that you'll feel healthier? Stronger? More energized? Imagine also that you are already experiencing exactly these things. Make it as real to yourself as you possibly can, using any inner senses that feel right.

Be a money magnet.

Since most of us wouldn't mind manifesting a few more bucks, as a part of your daily meditation, envision attracting huge amounts of currency toward yourself. Sense and really believe that you are a literal money magnet, and that currency of all sorts can't help but fly your way and stick to you. Alternatively, you could imagine that you are holding a giant wealth-attracting magnet, and that you're attracting money with that.

Conjure up laughter.

Laughter is so healthy! Why not attract more into your life? While you're driving to work or in the shower, think of the times in your life when you've laughed the hardest, and remember how that felt in your body, mind, and spirit. Stay with the feeling of laughter until the feeling naturally starts to wane. You'll notice that the more you do this, the more you'll find yourself laughing throughout the day.

Try any one of these, or all four, for at least one full month, and you'll almost certainly see results, both in your ability to visualize and in the effects of the visualizations themselves. Indeed, the great thing about these practices is that they're simple, but they'll shift your life quickly and in beautiful ways. Then, when you see firsthand how powerful visualizing can be, you'll be inspired to continue your practice. As it gets easier and easier over time, you'll get into a positive momentum and before you know it, your trouble with visualizing will be a thing of the past.

P.S. If you do try any of these out for at least a month, and if you think of it, please drop me a line and let me know how it goes. You can find ways to contact me at:

ravenstarenchantment@myway.com

FROM RAVEN'S NEST Jul 2, 2015

Enlightenment, Ascension and The Illusion of Matter
Dr Raven Dolick M.s.D.

Since the Central Sun alignment in December 2012, many human beings are experiencing a powerful and profound awakening to their true nature as Multi-Dimensional Immortal Beings of Light incarnating in physical form. The convergence of the 3rd and 5th dimensional frequencies is causing all kinds of shifts in consciousness and making it significantly easier to have an ‘Enlightenment experience’ – similar to the experience that the Buddha had. What was once a rare experience is now more commonplace as large numbers of humans are having the opportunity to clear lifetimes of karma in this lifetime. Clearing all of our karma in this lifetime is sufficient to enable the experience of Human Enlightenment – the recognition of our inner Awareness as the True and Absolute Reality.

As our vibrations increase, we can have all kinds of miraculous awakenings, joyous realizations and deep healings that may appear to be Enlightenment. Beautiful emotions and major transformations can be life-changing – and can often be mistaken for Enlightenment.

How can we know if we have achieved Enlightenment?
What is Enlightenment? And how does that relate to the Ascension Process?

To understand these questions enables us to come into a deeper relationship with our own Presence of Being, to recognize the illusion of the material world and to begin the work of spiritual integration in order to direct the energies of the ‘Enlightenment experience’ toward our own Ascension.

What is Enlightenment?
Enlightenment itself is very simple. It is the profound realization that we are nothing other than Universal Awareness and that Universal Awareness is ultimately all that there is. To become enlightened is to realize that we are the Creators of the Universe and the Universe itself. Enlightenment is the recognition of our Immortal and Timeless Universal Presence and the realization that all other realities are illusions created by projections of the mind. Enlightenment is a realization of ‘BEING’. The Universe is just ‘BEING’ in our experience and the experience of the entire Universe is nothing other than a reflection of our own Being.

Discourse 17: Enlightenment and the Atman
The simplicity of Enlightenment is understood when the primal error in perception (a belief in a self that exists in a state of separation from the Universe) is resolved and the illusion of duality is transcended. Duality is a fiction and a creation of the ego-mind, designed so that the ego-mind can perceive the world from a linear standpoint and make sense of it. The illusion of space-time is created so that the 3D mind can distinguish one form from another and project them in sequence into space-time. Once all forms are ‘projected’ onto the matrix of space-time – the world of separation is born. Everything is then seen as existing ‘out there’ and separate from ourselves. These projections are simply thought-forms and have no deeper external reality of their own.
No matter how real the world of matter seems – deeper inquiry will show that it does not exist outside of the five senses or our own Awareness. The sensory channels experience the apparent outer world through sensations and these sensations are then relayed to – and interpreted by – the mind. Whatever is seen, tasted, touched, heard or smelled is thus experienced by the mind and within our own Awareness. The mind projects thoughts externally (including all sensory mechanisms), sees what it projects and mistakenly believes the world of forms preceded the mind. This projection is the root cause of entrapment in Maya (illusion).
This confusion arises from the mistaken belief that forms exist outside of ourselves and thus outside of our own Awareness. Forms are then seen as solid and concrete objects, apparently existing independently from our own consciousness. The belief that they are separate reinforces the illusion and the belief in a state of separation from the rest of the Universe. This belief and the subsequent experience of separation then cause all the forms of suffering known to humanity. To unravel our erroneous beliefs enables us to become free from all suffering, aligned with the loving wisdom of our own Presence and presents the opportunity of resolving the karmas that led us to have a body in the first place. Upon the resolution of all karmas – one transcends the human condition and is able to complete one’s Ascension.

Self Inquiry Meditation – Who am I?
Through the process of self-inquiry meditation, one can investigate the apparent relationship between Awareness and material forms. We can witness our experience of forms and the notion of the ‘I’ having the experience, in order to determine where the distinction between ourselves and the Universe actually is.

Who am I ? What am I ?
Self-Inquiry meditation is one of the most direct approaches to having a direct experience of the Universe (and thus becoming enlightened). Though investigating and questioning our experience of reality – we will find that our beliefs about the Universe and our relationship to it are not based upon Truth. By dropping questions into the depths of our Being in our meditations we can come to some interesting revelations.

We can ask ourselves in meditation:
Where do we end and where does the Universe begin? Where is our experience? Where are forms? Who are we? Who, or what – is having the experience? What is the “I”? Where is the “I’? What came first – the experience or the experiencer?
As these questions are seeded into our Being, we will find that the mind will create additional questions in response to the original questions, sometimes in apparently never-ending streams. If we can resist the temptation to analyze with the mind and instead seek experiential answers – the chain of questions will stop and we will ‘arrive’ in a place where there are no further questions or any need to ask a question. We are simply presented with the experience of who we really are – the experience of our ‘Universal Being’. It is a place where all words and concepts disappear – in the words of the Heart Sutra – “Go beyond, beyond beyond and dwell there!”
The ego-mind likes concepts and ideas, perpetuating them without end – building the maze of illusions quicker than we can find our way out. It does this in order to preserve the illusion. The ego does not really exist – it simply believes it does and the belief in any illusion reinforces its appearance and form. The ego ultimately consists of nothing more than an aggregated set of beliefs, perceptions and concepts proclaiming to be a ‘Self’. There is a relative reality of individuality that will continue to exist for as long as we are in the world of duality, but in Truth – ultimately there is no Self and on a deeper level we are dreaming this reality.
To realize that this life is nothing other than a dream and that matter is not inherently real – is Enlightenment.

The Illusion of Matter
Ultimately, we can discover through a direct meditative experience – that matter does not really exist, its appearance is only relative and thus illusory. The solidity of matter is only an illusion of our mind, reinforced by sensory information interpreted by the mind. The form of our body is nothing other than an aggregate of sensations experienced by the mind. In meditation, we can investigate these sensations and discover that within the experience of apparent solidity is a vibration of Awareness – characterized by luminosity, formlessness, expansiveness, timelessness and a state of Omnipresent Being. This Pure Formless Awareness underlies all material forms and all worldly experiences.
In this space of Awareness that encompasses all forms, one can recognize that this Awareness is the Creator of all Forms and that the Creator is no-one other than ourselves. We are the architects of our own Reality. In this realization – there is no need for a Creator God, for it is understood that there is only One Universal Awareness that encompasses all forms and nothing can exist independently from that Universal Awareness. Awareness, being eternally present and outside of time – requires no beginning or anything else to precede its existence. The Big Bang did not then give rise to sentient beings that became aware of themselves and the Universe – rather it was sentience that gave birth to the Universe. The Big Bang can be viewed as the explosion of awareness into duality from the vibration of Timeless Singularity. Once this Primal Awareness had ‘fragmented’ into billions of individual ‘Divine Sparks’, the individual sparks (souls) began to create the Universe in their own way. The fragmentation was not total at the point of the Big Bang – in that each soul retained its connection to its Source. Upon discovering our connection to the Source, we become at One with the Universe again and reverse the descent into duality. We recognize ourselves and the Universe as a single entity.

Deeper self-inquiry will lead us to the direct Realization that this Universal Awareness is the only thing that there really is and that Awareness is nothing other than Awareness having an Awareness that Awareness is Aware!
In that Awareness, it can be realized that the entirety of our life experience is a dream created by our Higher Presence in order to awaken us to our true nature. From another perspective – the Universal Presence is dreaming and we are the dreamer. In truth – Oneness (The Universal Presence) is having a dream of duality so that it can realize and know itself. Ultimately, this is the existential reason as to why we exist. In the beginning, there was Oneness and only Oneness. Oneness had no perspective from which to ‘see itself’ and was thus oblivious to its true nature. Duality is a dream of Oneness so that Oneness can awaken and become conscious of itself through the experience of the Universe.

Enlightenment cannot be conceptualized or understood intellectually. Concepts and words can take us far up the mountain of Consciousness, but not all the way to the summit. Sooner or later, we have to release our attachments to concepts and discover the hidden place of Universal Presence beyond. It is pure, unstained, deathless and eternal. In truth, there is nothing one can say about it. One can only hint at it, for the deepest Truth cannot be spoken. The experience may be fleeting to begin with, but as we deepen our practice – we can arrive ‘here’ more often. We then discover that this is our true nature and when we are not in this experience, we are in illusion. Having an enlightenment experience in itself is nothing remarkable. The real spiritual work is to integrate the experience of enlightenment and to embody that realization in our daily lives. It is not enough to have an experience of Enlightenment if we cannot apply the ramifications of that Enlightenment in our daily lives.

Spiritual Integration
The process of Spiritual Integration enables us to embody the realization of who we really are in our daily lives. This is the real work and practice – being an embodiment of Truth on this Earth at this time. On the level of the Absolute – there is only the Reality of Formless Awareness. However, having realized that matter is an illusion – the illusion still persists and we are still here in corporeal form!
Many will ask why one’s experience of form persists long after we have recognized the illusion of it. In other words, the dream continues despite having awakened and recognized the reality that this is a dream. Is it possible to wake up and have the experience of being released from the world of matter entirely?
This is where we must apply the wisdom of Enlightenment to the practice of Ascension in order to obtain deeper clarity. Having an Enlightenment experience does not in itself result in the transmutation of our body. The Buddha after his Enlightenment did not ascend and instead experienced death.
There are three basic stages of the Path of Realization. The first two – the embodiment of Wisdom and Love – will result in an enlightenment experience in a physical body when they are in balance. One can remain in this balance indefinitely whilst in the human form with a lot of determination and effort. However, even when this is perfected – it is still only Earthly Enlightenment which does not free one from the human condition. It just enables one to become aware of the human condition and its causes.

To ascend the body (and thus become Immortalized) requires the recognition that the human condition in itself is not fixed and instead is simply a conglomeration of sensations, thoughts, experiences and ideas that give rise to the human experience. To ascend is to transcend the human condition and become a higher vibratory form of Being, existing in a dimension of consciousness beyond the physical body. We have a body because we are vibrating between two points on a vibratory spectrum.
Beyond the lower point, we experience death. Above the high point, the body is Immortalized and we experience Full Ascension. This represents the ‘Ascent out of Matter’ that we would ultimately wish to experience once we recognize the illusion of form. Rather than continuing to remain in the world of illusion as an Immortal Being masquerading as a mortal, we would want to embody the deeper Truth of who we really are – for incarnating again and again in the world of form is pointless once we recognize the illusion of it and have learned the lessons that duality can teach us.

A direct experience of Truth will illuminate our Being to the fact that our bodies are nothing other than projections and thus we are not really here.
If that is so, where are we?

The practice of Spiritual Integration is a process of assimilating our realizations into our experience and by doing so, our experience evolves. The reality of Ascension is often perceived as ‘out there’, ‘elsewhere’ and ‘higher dimensional’. The work is to make that ‘there’ become the new ‘here’. For as long as those qualities of higher-dimensional wisdom, Universal Love and the Transcendental are projected externally – we remain in separation and thus have not ascended. To ascend is to realize that everything that we are and seek to become is already within us. To apply the wisdom of Enlightenment to the Path of Ascension ultimately calls for us to realize that we are the Path and we are already everything we seek to become – including becoming an Ascended Immortal. For as long as there is the notion of a Path, there is a search of some kind. When we realize the search takes us outside of our Truth of who we are, we will discover the wonderful realization that the qualities of an Ascended Being already exist within our Being. Once we recognize that, everything else takes care of itself and our reality will naturally change to reflect that level of Realization.

Ascension as a State of Being
Ascension is not a place but a state of Being. Ascension represents the complete transcendence of the human condition. Enlightenment is to realize that the human condition in itself is an illusion and the belief in its reality reinforces our attachment to the Wheel of Birth and Death. With this in mind – we are already Home. The work is not to try and ‘ascend elsewhere’ but to find that ‘elsewhere’ within. In the Full Realization of our own Presence – we are in all places, all times, all realities and all Universes simultaneously. We have always been and will always be, but in the descent into the illusion – we forgot and erroneously believed that we only exist here. Balancing the Path of Ascension with the Path of Enlightenment is ultimately very simple – it is about awakening to who we are (Universal Presence) – and doing that in the Here and the Now.

By ‘being’ in the Presence, the rest of the Ascension Process will take care of itself. Yes – there are many other beautiful worlds in the Galaxy and beyond, as well as opportunities to live amongst Immortal Star Beings and travel throughout the Universe as a higher dimensional advanced Being of Light. It is possible to phase out of ‘space-time’ and leave the 3rd dimension entirely with the body. Those realities will become manifest for many of us as we awaken to our multi-dimensional nature existing in multiple reality-spheres throughout the Universe simultaneously. We will attract a reality in alignment with our internal state. However, for as long as those other worlds are seen as ‘places’ rather than ‘states of Being’ – they will elude us. When we recognize that Ascension is a state of Being – we will become it with ease.
In the mastery of Being Present Here in this dimension – in this reality – only then do the doorways to other realities open. We are Universal Beings and as the entire Universe is within our own Being, then naturally we can be present in these other dimensions as well. The deeper Truth is that Ascension is less about ‘moving our awareness elsewhere’ but becoming aware of that ‘elsewhere’ and bringing that Awareness into our current experience. The more we do this – the more multi-dimensional we become.
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