Order of Paladins

1. Order of Paladins Lesson 2 Precepts, Meditation, Basic Energy Work, Astral Temples

2. Warrior Spirit • “If we do not have flaws in our hearts, we need not be afraid of people.” KenshinKagetoraUesugi (1530 – 1578)

3. Hint: • Check out the information in the notes pages of this presentation. There’s a lot of additional information cached there.

4. Warrior’s Admonition Your body is your temple: Care for it! Do not engage in useless activity. Listen to the Goddess. Help thyself. You create your own reality. The Warrior’s path is creativity. A serene path to enlightenment. Know thyself. Master thyself. Create your own reality. Nurture the ability to perceive the truth in all matters. Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye. Learn from your mistakes. Teach thyself. Create your own reality. Do not be negligent, even in trifling matters Grace and guilt do not exist: Strive for responsibility. Honor thyself. Create your own reality.

5. 13 Precepts: • Know thyself. • Nurture the ability to perceive the truth in all matters. • You create your own reality. • Develop a sense of Right Action. • Do not be negligent, even in trifling matters. • Your body is your temple: Care for it! • Minimal appearance, maximum content. • Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye. • Power with. • Who dares wins. • The Gods cannot help those who will not help themselves. • Be creative! • Do not engage in useless activity.

6. Code of Chivalry: All members of the Order of Paladins must live according to the principles of chivalry, which include: Sincerity. Courtesy. Compassion. Perseverance. Industriousness. Justice. Loyalty. Courage. Self-Discipline. Humility. Largesse. Truth. Honor

7. Ethics and the Wiccan Rede • Robin Wood’s When, Why… If? • Chapter 2 Full Contact Magick

8. Wiccan Rede: • An it harm none, do what thou wilt • The rede is a double edged sword: It cautions you not to harm others, at the same time urging you to be all that you can be

9. Robin Wood (from When, Why,… If) “There are no gray areas (in Christianity), no moral dilemmas, just right and wrong, simple and clear cut. There are no natural consequences for your actions, no personal responsibility for any outcome, no reasoning, no thinking of any kind required; in short no ethics at all, just a list of things to be memorized, and a simple formula of repentance and forgiveness if you forget or decide to skip one.”

10. Responsibility • Our path is not based on guilt • The Judeo/Christian system can be summarized by the expression “Thou shalt not”. • Our system can be summarized by the expression “I will not”: It is based on responsibility, not guilt.

11. Responsibility 2 • I often run into people who have suffered a number of misfortunes and set-backs in their lives. It is amazing how often these people will lay the blame for their misfortunes on crossed stars, bad luck or “psychic attack.” They expend vast quantities of energy on trying to improve their luck. They put up psychic wards and fire off energetic salvoes at those they hold responsible for their troubles. If things go wrong, they find someone or something else to blame. They resort to hexes and other forms of retribution.

12. Responsibility 3 • Journalist P.J. O’Rourke once aptly described this situation as follows: • “One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it’s remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver’s license.”[i]

13. Divine Retribution • In Judeo-Christian-Islamic systems transgressors are threatened with divine retribution. They tell you that some deity will whack you if you get out of line. That’s not the way we view the world.

14. Karma • In Wicca, as in eastern philosophies, one encounters the concept of karma. The word karma derives from a Sanscrit word meaning “action.”[i] Karma may be defined as the totality of a person’s actions determining their fate in this life or in other incarnations in the future. In other words karma is the law of cause and effect. [i]. Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary.

15. Law of Three-Fold Return • The Wiccan equivalent of karma is the Law of Three-Fold Return, which was established by Raymond Buckland: • “Everything you do comes back to you three times.” • Basically this law tells us that we get back three times whatever we put into life. If you do positive works, you will get more abundant positive benefit in return. If you do negative and destructive things to another, then you suffer even worse consequences to yourself.

16. Law of Three-Fold Return • The trouble with this law is that it is describing what in modern terms would be called a “feed-back loop.” If magicians had come up with proof of this system in the past few centuries you can be sure that you’d have heard about it. Actually it started as a public relations sound byte to help the public understand that we were harmless Wiccans, not destructive Satanic cult members. It was simple and effective. Actually Gardner’s original version was a “two-fold” law. It was in a later press interview that Buckland upped the ante to make it a three-fold law instead. The three-fold version stuck.

17. Pass It Forward • I think that it would be more accurate to use the concept of karma rather than the three-fold law to describe what happens in the real world. What you do gets passed forward by others and will eventually make it’s way back to you. This is another reason that the Wiccan Warrior’s path must be a non-violent one.

18. Taking Charge Think of the universe as an ocean and yourself as a boat on that ocean: An ocean that is often tempestuous and treacherous. You could let yourself drift, at the mercy of fate. Or you can set the sails, grab the tiller and steer. You can’t adjust the wind, but you can adjust the sails. Being a Warrior is all about steering your course through life.

19. The Warrior A Warrior is a person who makes a fearless and objective inventory of their personal characteristics and then uses this information to take control of their life.

20. 1st Warrior Precept: Know Thyself • This first precept links right in to the preceding definition of a Warrior. If you don’t know yourself, you can’t master yourself. Master yourself, and everything else takes care of itself.

21. 3rd Warrior Precept: You create your own reality • This Warrior path is all about taking charge of your life and making it happen the way you want it to. This is the goal that you are going to use this ”knowing” from the first two Warrior precepts. Creating your own reality is the ultimate purpose of magick.

22. 2nd half of the Wiccan Rede The 2nd half of the Wiccan Rede encourages us to do just this: DO what thou wilt. It invites us to go forward and be what we want to be. The Wiccan Rede encourages us to throw off our chains and follow our bliss. Once you set yourself free, you can accomplish anything. It is this aspect of knowing that links it to one of the other sides of the Witch’s Pyramid/Magickal Artillery: “To Dare” (which we will discuss in a later class). I’m not asking you to change into someone else. I’m telling you that by accessing Warrior energy you can become something more.

23. 6th Warrior Precept: Your body is your temple- Care for it! • You’re going to get better results if your body is in good shape. The Japanese word “samurai” is a combination of the Chinese characters for “person” and “temple”. Your body is your temple. It is truly the only temple that you need.

24. Meditation: to Keep Silent • Chapter 8 Full Contact Magick

25. 2nd Warrior Precept: Nurture the ability to perceive the truth in all matters Meditation will train you to eliminate distractions and see through illusions to the reality beneath. This is part of the process of knowing, which we will go into in more detail in a later lesson. This is directly related to the energy sensing exercises later in this lesson.

26. 8th Warrior Precept: Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye • It is said that “Silence is the warrior's art and meditation is his sword." To keep silent is to become still within and without. To clear your mind of distractions. To become aware of subtle currents, instincts, and emotions. To see into the depths not only of the world around you, but into the depths of human nature too. Knowing is awareness. To keep silent is to become pure awareness.

27. Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye This precept is one of the two sides of the Witch’s Pyramid/Magickal Artillery (the other being To Imagine) that is concerned with the grail process of drawing in energy. You become silent in order to sense the energy currents around you so that you can allow the energy to fill you. You want this energy to flow through you so that you can direct it out again with your will.

28. Meditation • Silence is the warrior's art and meditation is his sword • To keep silent is to become pure awareness • Mind like water, mind like the moon.

29. Meditation The purpose of meditation is to train and discipline your mind so that you can use this Lesser Magickal Weapon more effectively and efficiently. You must train your mind to be still. There is an old saying in Karate: "Mind like water, mind like the moon." The mind must be like a still pond, conscious of the slightest ripple, able to accurately reflect reality. Bruce Lee encouraged the Warrior to "Observe what is with undivided awareness." Satori is the Warrior’s state of being. A mind free of thought. Pure awareness.

30. Meditation • Helps you bring all five senses up to maximum perceptive levels • Disciplines your mind

31. Flow States Psychologists use the word “flow” to describe the fluidity people experience in meditation. Flow states are moments when we are at our best. Living is awareness. Our perception is normally about 70% vision with the remaining 30% divided between the four senses of hearing, smell, touch and taste. Warriors use meditation to enhance their perceptions and bring all five senses up to maximum perceptive levels.

32. Purpose of Meditation: The purpose of meditation is to train and discipline your mind so that you can use this Lesser Magickal Weapon more effectively and efficiently. You must train your mind to be still. There is an old saying in Karate: "Mind like water, mind like the moon." The mind must be like a still pond, conscious of the slightest ripple, able to accurately reflect reality. Bruce Lee encouraged the Warrior to "Observe what is with undivided awareness." Satori is the Warrior’s state of being. A mind free of thought. Pure awareness.

33. Patience The Warrior must learn to wait patiently. This was a very important principle to the ancient Samurai. The weaker swordsman, unable to stand the strain of waiting, often tried to deal the first blow. In an instant he revealed his strategy to his opponent. It was only then that his more patient and skilled opponent would strike, using a blow that was a combination of parry and attack, calculated to neutralize the strategy revealed by the less patient opponent. To stand face to face with an enemy armed with four feet of razor-sharp steel in this fashion required endless patience and awesome concentration. This endurance and diligence will intensify your magick.

34. Our Objectives: • Flow states, not trance states • Enhanced state of consciousness, not merely altered states • NO MIND (the “illusion of elsewhere”)

35. Trance States: Trance states you can achieve by using drugs. You have no control over trance states. We aren’t seeking trance states in the Order of Paladins: We are seeking flow states. We will discuss flow states further in a later lesson.

36. No Mind There is a scene in the movie The Last Samurai in which Captain Algren is repeatedly being knocked to the ground by the senior samurai instructor that he is practicing with. The son of the samurai leader runs up to Algren, who has once again been dumped on the ground by his instructor. The samurai leader’s son tells Algren: “Too many mind! Mind of school. Mind of people watching. Mind of enemy. No mind!” He is referring to the principle of no mind. Algren is distracted by thoughts of all of the things around him in the training area. His mind is not like a still pond that reflects the reality that surrounds it. Later in the movie, when Algren finally grasps the concept of no mind, he finds that he is finally able to match the ability of his instructor.

37. Illusion of Elsewhere The Warrior must find this place of “no mind.” Author David Gemmell calls it “the illusion of elsewhere.” I mentioned that I used to practice meditation in the police gym while standing in Entering Tranquility. This allowed me to practice shutting out distractions while in that “illusion of elsewhere.” Two walls of the gym were windows giving a panoramic view of downtown Vancouver. I would choose some element from this panorama to focus on. Alternately, I would choose some sound or some smell in the training area to focus on. I would practice being aware of things around me without thinking about them. I would become aware of people moving towards or away from me. I learned to anticipate their movements. You can practice this in the office lunchroom, in the office, in a park, or at a family gathering. The possibilities are endless. A variation that I’m fond of involves going out in a field on a windy day and do my meditation. I close my eyes and sense the flow of wind. I try to sense when and where the next gust is coming from. Before long you find that you can turn to face the wind before the wind starts up.

38. Bruce Lee: “To understand the actual requires awareness, an alert and totally free mind.”

39. Normal Consciousness • Normally, our conscious perception is about 70% vision with the remaining 30% divided between the four senses of hearing, smell, touch and taste.

40. Distraction • Survival and threat assessment is what the brain is really good at. Thinking is not. • On the average we are distracted every 3 ½ seconds. • If you become distracted during meditation, simply say “thinking” to yourself and start again.

41. Energy Flow Letting yourself become still and silent allows you to sense the energy currents around you. This not only allows you to select which energetic currents you will allow into your personal space, it allows you to select which currents you want to deflect or ground out. It allows you to separate the energy you want to flow through you from the energy you want to flow around you.

42. Amygdala This is the “alarm system” of the brain, the part that turns on the fear, fight, flight and fuels anxiety If you find yourself being overwhelmed by anxiety, there is another part of the brain which can control this…

43. The Insula The Insula (or insular cortex) is deep inside the temporal lobes of your brain. It is the part of the brain which controls consciousness and emotions If you find yourself overwhelmed with anxieties, focus on your breath, on the weight of your feet, on a mandala (like you would in meditation in a zen temple). This shuts down the amygdala

44. Meditation Control Thus one can use meditation to activate the Insula to control the Amygdala and thus master control of your thoughts.

45. Astral Temples The ritual Circle has an astral or psychic equivalent: The Astral Temple. This is the sacred space that you create entirely within your own mind. This is a place where you can go to connect with aspects of the divine or simply to recharge yourself. It may be your private place or you may share it with others. It can be as simple of elaborate as you wish. You can modify it at will.

46. Lesson 2 Assignment • Create an Astral Temple for yourself. • Report back on what you’ve created and how it works for you. • Meditate and see if you can tell me what the Astral Temple used by the Order of Paladins looks like.

47. Energy Exercises • Chapter 6 Full Contact Magick

48. Lifting Water • Start in Entering Tranquility Posture

49. Lifting Water 2 • Lift arms slowly out to your sides to shoulder height while breathing in

50. Lifting Water 3 • Imagine energy running up out of the ground to fill you as your arms rise. • Exhale and let arms fall back to your sides