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Another newbie question...

  
 
pony
06:16 / 03.04.04
Ok, after having been interested in magic on a theoretical level for a little over a year, i just took my first crack at sigil-casting. All in all it was very intense and much more 'tangibly' active than I expected, and I have a few questions.

1. i began by doing deep pranayama-style breathing and gradually increased the intervals between breaths. after about 10 minutes (i'm guessing) i was waiting about 8 seconds after each inhalation and exhalation, so i'm estimating that i was taking about 4 breaths per minute. after a couple minute of this, my vision started going from unfocused to hallucinatory, and i'm not talking minorly hallucinatory. it was the kind of sudden fractalization that has preceded the world completely dropping away in my salvia and dmt experiences. when this started, i began worrying that i might just pass out and the effort would be wasted, so i switched over to attempting to hyperventilate, which had been my original plan for gnosis seeking (the deprivation of breath had been intended as a centering mechanism). the experience left me wondering if i could have pursued the hallucinating in a meaningful way or if i would have simply passed out. any advice/experiences/knowledge about this would be appreciated.

2. after i started trying to hyperventilate, i attempted it for maybe 3 minutes and got light-headed but i didn't feel that i had come anywhere close to blacking out, which had been my goal (i don't know if my methodology sounds retarded, but this was my first time and i was just doing what seemed intuitive). anyway, in my light-headed state i switched over to the good old wanking, and i must say it did the trick impressively. so, the questions: a. is there anything inherrently wrong with switching between techniques during the gnosis seeking? i don't think that the wanking thing would be nearly as powerful for me had it not be for the work preceeding it. b. is there anything wrong (i know, this is a stupid thing to be asking about chaos magic, but i'm just hoping for some positive reinforcement) with combining inhibitory methods with exitatory ones in rapid succession? again, all opinions appreciated, as is general advice for the newbie.

p.s. barbelith is fucking awesome, i'd like to thank all of you.
 
 
Lebra
06:25 / 03.04.04
No, there's nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, many chaotes report that it enhances the experience, or at least that it's just damn interesting. The point is to achieve gnosis; it doesn't matter how.

Your description of your experience, however, suggests that you did not in fact switch between inhibitory and excitatory. Correct me if I misunderstood, but I thought you said you always intended on hyperventilating for gnosis, and that is an excitatory method just as wanking is.

Your original question was whether you could use your hallucinatory state in some way, and, while I have no personal experience with hallucinations in magic, I would imagine you could. Hell, you can use just about any mental state for something.
 
 
pony
06:31 / 03.04.04
just to clarify: by switching between inhibitory and exititory, i meant switching between the breath deprivation and the hyperventilating. i hadn't intended for the slowed breathing to really be part of the gnosis-seekage, but it ended up much more intense then i had been planning and led right into the hyperventilating.
 
 
pony
20:42 / 04.04.04
also: does anyone have any solid info about medical reprecussions of causing one self to black out by not breathing? i really don't want to do anything that would cause any brain damage. i think a bdsm messageboard would prolly have the best info on this kind of thing, but i'd feel a bit weird explaining the situation to them.
 
 
charrellz
15:02 / 05.04.04
I know blacking out through oxygen-deprivation kills brain cells, but what doesn't?

A friend and I used to do similar exercizes where one person would bend down to hyperventilate, then come to standing or sitting position while holding their breath. The other person would place hands on side of neck tightly until they go limp and exhale. Generally causes some pretty strange visions and sensations. Meditation before and after is good as well.
 
 
EvskiG
16:10 / 05.04.04
You might want to get a book on pranayama -- by a genuine expert yogi -- to see the different ways you can regulate your breathing, the effects it's likely to have, and HOW TO DO IT PROPERLY AND SAFELY. I'd suggest "Light on Pranayama" by B.K.S. Iyengar. Easy to find.
 
  
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