New Isis Lodge and the Thunder Dragon

[John Hope]

Jul 6, 2015 13:32:07 GMT stephen said:

Too many people to quote here, so I'll just get stuck in.

I'm not familiar with the John Levy recordings but I do have an earlier Lyrichord Discs recording: TIBETAN RITUAL MUSIC by Lamas and Monks of the four Great Orders, made by Peter Crossley-Holland in 1961.  Bought the LP in Leamington Spa back in 1973 when I was at Warwick University and it made quite an impression at the time; haven't listened to it for ages - it was Ozric Tentacles at the weekend, but the Lamas are a more intense proposition I think.

Going through old magical records yesterday, sifting through psilocybe-fuelled workings.

December, 1992 e.v. During Rite for Maitresse Erzulie "..experience of strange musical sounds, on closer listening to these, the more they sounded like the buzzing noises of insects."

March, 1993 e.v. Acquired Hecate's Fountain and soon noted the references to the buzzing phenomena being associated with the presence of the Great Old Ones.  Then all of the later chapters under discussion as well.

Very much into Vodou at this time and not too surprisingly the attentions of the were-insect loa became more discernible:

February, 1994 e.v. During a Rite for Maitre Kalfou: "Concentration on images (inner visuals) brought intesification of light and energy and insect-like activity - loud buzzing and clicking like a painful assault on the mind."

I equate the buzzing experience as a phenomenon of the mushroom chemistry itself, but it reached its strongest intensity in my Vodou workings.  Working with Kalfou in particular was a very intense experience.

This interested me and reminded me of a strange experience I had when I was young, about 14, and just starting to get involved with the occult. I was in walking in a forest in Dorset when I suddenly heard and felt this very strange passing deep buzzing sound that went straight through me and made me dive to the ground. I was completely shaken and shivering, very hard to describe and very strange. I remember looking around half expecting to come face to face with some hideous giant insect.

Growing up in rural areas I had, and to this day have never, heard anything like that sound, it was a humming buzz that made my skin tingle.

[visio]

These experiences certainly resonate with me. One day during incubation (a meditative practise where I simply lie down in Shavasana and surrender to the unconscious) I experienced and extremely loud buzzing sound in my head, as if an electrical current was passing through the brain in the location of the Ajna chakra. It was extremely disturbing.

[stephen]

Given these two posts of memorable 'buzzing' experiences by John and visio, I thought that another dip into the magical record might be of interest:

14 May 1993 e.v.

From the record of a Ritual for Papa Legba. After drawing the selected veve for Kandio Legba and setting up the altar, I had slowly chewed and swallowed seventy psilocybe mushrooms with a little water. The consecrations were made and the invocations were sung prior to the experience of the following - taken verbatim from the record:

I closed my eyes and was confronted with the full, vivid intensity of the all-embracing vortex of images and sensations that were being generated by the mushroom drug. It was an intricate web of living energy, which I perceived was alien and external to my own being.

Indeed, the flowing energy of the matrix was assuming some specific forms: I found myself totally encompassed by the denizens of the spirit realms in the shape of the were-insect loa, darkly beautiful and sinister. They included all manner of strange insect forms, and they were large and up close. I carefully concentrated on them. Those directly before my eyes were wasp-like, or hornet-like in appearance; they seemed to be either challenging me, or trying to attack me, and I sensed that there were some above me, trying to penetrate my skull – or feed on the energies of my aura. I could hear, and feel, their whirring, clicking and buzzing sounds, with their volume and locus undulating and flowing. I decided that they were essentially qlippothic and vampiric, and I called on Papa Legba to open the Gates and let me pass, as I willed myself to penetrate this web-like zone of energies. But the sensations persisted in their intensity…

I opened my eyes, fixed my gaze on the veve, and began to sing the song to Kandio Legba in order to impose magical control. I noticed that the lighting and dimensions of the room had assumed a surreal quality and that I could perceive individual rays of light emanating from the candle flames. I sang my song well, but it required much effort of concentration…
I closed my eyes again, to find that the mushroom matrix was still flowing all around me, with its beautifully twisting, intricate vortices of living energy, and that it was still populated with the fantastic forms of the were-insect loa. Moreover, I remained the focus of their attentions…

With some forceful insistence, I invoked the power and aid of Kandio Legba, Old and Potent Spirit, Black One from Dahomey, to impose my will and lucidity of purpose. There seemed to be some response to this from the were-insect loa, who assumed darker and more anthropomorphic forms, suggestive of an ophidian sensuality. Some of the forms made lascivious approaches toward me, yearning for congress, and I attempted to commune with them and assume their own form to overcome their opposition.

I am not sure that it was correct to "decide" that the were-insects were "qlippothic and vampiric". Evidently, I had already opened the Gate, so these guardians, if that is what they may be considered, were simply checking me out. The observation may have been due to a passing instant of paranoia, I did not experience any true sense of fear: they were just so damn persistent!

[Gregory Peters]

Interesting reports! I have many of the buzzing sounds, along with a seeming high pitched vibration throughout the body, often at the beginning of astral work. During deep meditations there will also be various sounds and sensations, such as what could be termed cicadas chirping, bells, thunder, and a low rumbling vibration

[stephen]

My friend Robin Ellis reminded me that the buzzing phenomenon is mentioned in the writings of Carlos Castaneda:

“In stopping the world one comes to the totality of oneself and experiences inner silence and so may hear what Castaneda calls a buzzing or a high frequency. Though he speaks of listening to “the holes between sounds,” Castaneda only mentions this inaudible sound current three times, in the first book, second book and the last major book. He speaks of it as reminding him of a “gigantic bee.” He later says he “divided his attention” between the buzzing and the external world. Lastly, he notices a “peculiar buzzing, a mixture of the sound of flapping wings and the buzzing of a radio whose dial has not picked up the frequency of a radio station.”

The Life and Teachings of Carlos Castaneda – William Patrick Patterson, Arete Communications, Fairfax, California; 2008. pp. 70-71.

Patterson gives page references for the original American editions, (Simon & Schuster, p.65 and p.54 respectively) but for the British Penguin editions they are page 96, The Teachings of Don Juan, (1970, 1973 reprint) and pages 60-61, A Separate Reality, (1973). The “last major book”, The Active Side of Infinity, has not been consulted.

Patterson has a particular interest in drawing correspondences between Castaneda’s concepts and the teachings of Gurdjieff, thus:

“Buzzing is an initial inaudible frequency which prepares for reception of the Nirioonossian-World-Sound.”

His reference for which is All & Everything, First Series, G.I. Gurdjieff, (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1950), page 489.

[Banyan]

Funny to find a thread all about strange sounds, just this morning I had an odd experience while doing the breathing for Wim Hof Method (essentially bhastrika pranayama with bahya kumbhaka at the end). On the last round I held the kumbhaka for 3 minutes and entered some form of intense focus, in which saw a sigil that looked something like a backwards Enochian 'B', or like the various 'V'-like sigils in the Book of Pleasure.

This was accompanied with a buzzing, rumbling sound, like heavy machinery buzzing or pulsing, which I had never experienced before while doing that exercise. Far-away thunder isn't too far off what it sounded like.

[Gregory Peters]

That is an interesting account Banyan. During my day practices I will often get an underlying sound of thunderous rushing winds as a background vibration. In the night practices and dream yoga this often becomes more of a resonant “Ahh” vibration with tinkling bells. Sometimes these both resolve into a humming, buzzing insect like sound.