#altered states of consciousness

[secret-bug-pain-blog]

Whumptober Day 1 - Search Party

We researched West Virginian gun laws and hunting seasons for this one. Based on our estimates of the approximate time of year that Arc 1 of Amnesty takes place in, Pigeon and Pete would have been toting around guns around a month away from any time that it would be legal to use them.

We spent some time trying to pinpoint exact districts for this, and then realized that this is only one day out of thirty-one and it probably isn't as relevant as we were picturing, so we stopped doing that. If someone else here lives in West Virginia and cares about that, our excuse is that we do not live in West Virginia, or in America, and we also do not presently have a hunting permit or game permit of any kind. We also cannot legally use a gun right now. We can skin and flesh a pelt if needed, though. Call us up for for amateur taxidermy and butchering services and we'll see what we can do.

[spaceintruderdetector]

Flickers Of The Dreamachine (Codex, 1996) : Paul Cecil : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

[hauntedselves]

The Continuum of Dissociation

[Image description:

An infographic describing the continuum of dissociation and the theory of structural dissociation. From left to right (more integrated parts to less integrated parts), are:

Altered states - Altered states of consciousness: Includes things like daydreaming, normal absorption, 'highway hypnosis', flow states, meditative practices, and imaginary play

Primary dissociation - PTSD / single incident trauma: Where a person has what can be described as a 'Going on with normal life' part that does daily life, as well as a 'Trauma part' that holds the experience of trauma

Secondary dissociation - C-PTSD / complex trauma: Where a person has more than one 'Going on with normal life' part as well as multiple trauma parts that often are caught in defensive actions and patterns of trauma

Dissociative disorders - OSDD / UDD: Other specified and unspecified dissociative disorders are diagnoses given when a person does not meet the full criteria for a specific dissociative disorder

Tertiary dissociation - DID / polyfragmented DID: Characterised by two or more distinct personality states, and in the case of polyfragmented DID, a person has a large number of 'alters' or identities, each with their own sense of self

Outside of the parts model, but still within dissociation, are:

Dissociative amnesia: Where a person cannot remember important information about their life (more than ordinary forgetfulness)

Depersonalisation & derealisation: Where a person experiences feelings of detachment from their body or cognitions, including a disconnect from their self or environment

End image description]

[Image description:

An infographic describing primary structural dissociation.

In primary structural dissociation, there is a 'Going on with normal life part', which avoids traumatic reminders to function in normal life goals. Daily life functions include rest, play, socialising, relationships, and intimacy.

There is also a trauma part, which is engaged in survival / animal defences and is often in hyper- or hypoarousal. Trauma responses (defences) are: fight, flight, freeze, submit, and attach.

End image description]

[Image description:

An infographic describing secondary structural dissociation.

In secondary structural dissociation, there is a 'Going on with normal life part', which avoids traumatic reminders to function in normal life goals.

There are also multiple trauma parts, which are engaged in survival / animal defences and is often in hyper- or hypoarousal. Trauma responses (defences) are: fight, flight, freeze, submit, and attach.

End image description]

[Image description:

An infographic describing tertiary structural dissociation. It gives an example of a system, the collection of all alters (parts) within a person.

In tertiary structural dissociation, there are multiple 'Going on with normal life parts', one or more of which may be called the 'host(s)', who are engaged in daily life. Examples of going on with normal life parts are a worker alter, a caregiver alter, and a partner alter.

There are also multiple trauma parts, which are alters engaged in survival defences. Examples of trauma parts are a gatekeeper alter (who decides who fronts), fight alters (e.g. Ann, a 24 year old primar protector part, and Don, a 30 year old persecutor part), flight alters (e.g. Sally, an 8 year old trauma holder), freeze alters (e.g. Marcus, a 10 year old trauma holder), submit alters (e.g. Pia, an 18 year old trauma holder), and attach alters (may be called 'littles', e.g. Lily, a 4 year old and Jack, a 6 year old, both trauma holders).

End image description]

- Natasja Wagner

[manifestisnow]

Here is something slightly crazy that we thought you may enjoy.

Please feel free to share it out there. Give it time and wear a comfortable pair of earphones when listening to it. Relax and get ready to take off!!

[sidewalkchemistry]

in the tags, share if you would like to have more conscious & discovery-filled dream experiences. I might start a challenge in July on my blog to help people with that

[loneberry]

“Finally, we need to notice that a number of caves contain evidence for stalactites, especially of the undulating ‘drapery’ kind, having been struck, though we cannot always be sure that this was done during the Upper Palaeolithic. These stalactites emit a deep booming sound when struck. In the Réseau Clastres in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, they have been struck by someone standing on the far side; someone entering the cave with only a lamp or burning torch would not easily see the percussionist, and the sound would swell and resonate from the darkness in enveloping waves.

The effect of rhythmic sound, especially drumming and chanting, is widely recognized as a means of contacting the world of spirits.”

—David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art

A cave can be a giant drum! I’ve always been awe-inspired by the cathedral-like acoustics of caves

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Elliott Daingerfield (1859-1932). Moon Rising over Fog Clouds .

[Mikhail Iossel]

* * * *

"Every person, from morning till evening, is making invisible forms in space by what he says. He is creating invisible vibrations around him, and so he is creating an atmosphere." ~ Hazrat Inayat Khan, 'The Mysticism of Sound and Music'

[shamanflavio]

Shamanism: A Journey Through the Mind, Body, and Spirit Connection

Shamanism, a spiritual practice that spans across various cultures and epochs, serves as a profound testament to the universality of human psychobiological experiences. Through the lens of Winkelman’s (2002) research, we can understand shamanism not merely as a cultural artifact but as a manifestation of innate brain processes, representational systems, and psychophysiological dynamics inherent…

[monotheistreal]

Delve into the profound realm of Shamanism with our latest video on Monotheist. Uncover the essence of Shamanic practices, rituals, and spiritual connections in this comprehensive guide for beginners. Whether you're new to the spiritual realm or seeking advanced insights, this video serves as a gateway to the profound wisdom of Shamanic traditions. Join us on a transformative exploration of self-discovery and healing. Subscribe to Monotheist for engaging content on spirituality. Like, share, and hit the bell to stay connected. Embark on a journey of enlightenment with us. #Shamanism #SpiritualJourney #MysticalWisdom #HealingEnergy #SelfDiscovery #AncientRituals #EnlightenmentPath #SpiritualExploration #Monotheist #InnerTransformation #trending #viral #explore #reels

[spaceintruderdetector]

The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test 4 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

[cavorta]

January 24, 2024 Interesting video (ca. 23 minutes) with good explanations: "The ONE Thing Every Occultist Needs To Master: Altered States of Consciousness" by Ivy the Occultist.

[sidewalkchemistry]

Who you are in states of peak bliss — when you're laughing til you're crying, when you're in inspirational flow, when you have frozen time with mindsets of gratitude — is who you really are. When you forget that and begin feeling lost, travel back in your mind and reunite with them.

[loneberry]

“Concepts of a tiered universe are, of course, not restricted to shamanistic religions. Heaven above, Hell below, and the level of anxious humanity in between appear in one form or another across the globe. Why should this be so? In the materiality of daily life there is, after all, no evidence whatsoever of hidden spiritual realms above and below. The answer to this question is, I argue, to be found in a set of widely reported mental experiences. These reports come not only from laboratory experiments but also from an extremely broad range of shamanistic (and other) societies. The experiences fall into two categories: those that are taken to relate to an underworld, and those that are interpreted as relating to a realm in the sky above.

In discussing the underworld, we may group underground and underwater experiences. In Chapter 4, I described the sensation of passing through a vortex, or tunnel, as subjects move along the intensified spectrum and into Stage 3 of deeply altered consciousness. Tunnel experiences also occur in dreams and near-death experiences. Often there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. As we saw, Siegel notes that the first iconic images appear on the sides of this enclosing vortex. Here, I suggest, is the reason why so many peoples around the world believe in passing underground to a subterranean realm. The notion has its origin in altered states of consciousness and then becomes part of socially transmitted culture so that even those who have never experienced the far end of the intensified trajectory accept the beliefs.

At the same time, subjects often experience sensations of inhibited breathing, distorted vision, sounds in the ears, difficulty in moving, weightlessness, and a sense of being in another world. These sensations are frequently interpreted as being underwater. Both underground and underwater travel are widely reported shamanistic experiences.

It is important to remember that these experiences are the result of the way in which the human brain and nervous system are neurologically constructed and the ways in which they operate electro-chemically in altered states of consciousness. To this extent, the experiences are universal. The precise ways in which they are rationalized are culturally situated and hence differ in some ways from society to society: some people speak of entering caves, others of following the roots of a tree, and still others of going down animal burrows, rather like Alice. Similarly, and depending to some extent on the environment in which people live, others speak of diving into the sea or deep pools.”

—David Lewis-Williams, The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art

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I almost gave up on this book because everything it says about Neanderthals is wrong. To be fair the book was written 20 years ago, about 7 years before the Neanderthal genome was even sequenced. Now it looks like Neanderthals may have actually been the creators of the earliest cave paintings, around 20,000 years before Homo sapiens arrived to Europe. Neanderthals cooked elaborate meals using spices. They bred with us. They even invented flatbread! To say Neanderthals lacked higher-order consciousness or the mental architecture to conceptualize a past or future is patently absurd. Hell, for all we know, an earlier hominin species, Homo naledi, could have engaged in “funerary practices” 335,000 years ago (palaeoanthropologists and archaeologists are still debating the implications of the 2013 discovery of the Homo naledi remains).

If you bracket everything The Mind in the Cave says about Neanderthals, the book is delightfully trippy. It offers a shamanistic theory of Upper Palaeolithic cave art grounded in an emphasis on the role of altered states of consciousness. I supposed I'm predisposed to chthonic experiences (considering my first dream book was Tiny Spelunker of the Oneiro-Womb* and I'm obsessed with water...). But now that I think of it--the book I'm currently finishing is titled Alien Daughters Walk Into the Sun; there most be something of the celestial in me too. (*The title was actually inspired by an article I read about the classified ad recruiting "tiny spelunkers" for the mission to retrieve the Homo naledi remains in the Rising Star Cave of South Africa...)

[convexicalcrow]

The Warden farm was silent, and it was the kind of dense, full silence Cub needed right now. He'd thought coming back to Hermitcraft was going to give him the time to process the skulk possession and the memory loss, but the Emperors had followed, and he'd been too busy pretending everything was fine as he tried to remember where everything was while trying to keep up with everything going on to stop. At least down here, his brain didn't feel like it was full of angry bees.

He broke the portal once he'd arrived, not wishing for anyone to follow him. He just needed to be alone for a while, and let the darkness and the silence soothe his ragged nerves. He curled up against the wall, finding comfort in the sensation of the skulk veins against his body as they began wrapping him in a coocoon, hiding him away from the world.

He didn't sleep, not really. He wasn't really awake either. He'd found a consciousness somewhere between the two that was also neither, and there he stayed, undreaming, unawake, simply existing in the silence. There were no skulk whispers, no Vex pestering him, nothing. Just silence. Eyes closed. Wrapped in a tight blanket of skulk veins that he found very comforting, like arms holding him close. It felt like that.

-

"Cub? Cub! No! Hey! Get away from him! Let him go! You're not taking him again! I won't let you!"

Scar's voice pierced through Cub's mind like lightning, blasting the silence away. He was too loud, too loud, and he was forced back to a more waking consciousness as he felt his body being pulled around as the skulk veins fell away.

"I'm getting you away from here, Cub. I don't want you losing more of your memories to this stinking plant! Come on! Get up! Please? Cub, please, get up, the skulk's too dangerous," Scar pleaded.

He pressed his hands over his ears once he could move, and curled up, resisting Scar's attempts to help him. He didn't need help. Just needed to be alone. He was vaguely conscious of more skulk veins wrapping over him, and more attempts from Scar to free him. But Scar was just Too Loud and his mind was overwhelmed to the point where he felt paralysed. Couldn't speak. Couldn't move. Couldn't do anything. Didn't know how to tell Scar what he needed.

In his mind, he screamed.

-

Cub retreated to Vexspace, shutting himself away from the rest of the hivemind. Nowhere was safe when he wanted to be alone, but at least he could police his boundaries here. He curled up again, burying his head in his arms, hoping for some peace.

-

He dreamed this time. Remembered standing under Scar's tree on the banks of the Hermissippi once the Empires folks had gone home, taking in just how many of the buildings around him he didn't recognise. It was like he'd been away from the server for several months and had to catch up. But he hadn't been away. He'd been doing all kinds of things, he just couldn't remember doing them.

Playing Total Chaos had been... strange. Familiar, and yet vastly not. He stared at the redstone spaghetti all around the arena and knew he'd built it, but could he explain it? Certainly not. The fact he'd needed other Hermits to explain his own game to him in order for him to run it again had been frustrating, but he had understood it. It did seem like his kind of game, and once he'd played it once, it was like his body knew what to do then, and he was fine.

He remembered standing on the pathway out to his farms that he'd built from the red tunnel, and feeling lost. He walked by so many portals, read the signs if they had them, and felt like he was playing on someone else's world.

He went through them all, of course, just to refamiliarise himself with where he was and what he'd done. The Allays at the scute farm seemed happy to see him, at least. He didn't remember getting Allays, and he got to be delighted by them all over again as they flew towards him to greet him. They were very sweet creatures, and nuzzled him softly before going back to their work collecting scutes.

As a Vex, he felt strange about that. Allay were- he didn't know, not really. They seemed very helpful creatures, and all his instincts were telling him to do were to destroy them and corrupt them into Vexes. He took himself away from the Allays at that thought. He didn't want to hurt them.

-

Something was weighing him down, and he felt fingers brush his cheek softly. Scar. It couldn't be anyone else. He curled up again, feeling Scar's arms hold him tighter. Vex magic was pulsing strongly between them; clearly he was still in Vexspace. Scar wasn't talking, though. Wasn't even sending him any words through their mental link. He was just holding him close and nuzzling him softly like the Allays did. Scar's energy was apologetic, and Cub understood. Scar was just looking out for him. At least this time, Scar's touch didn't make him feel like he was on fire.

-

"I just didn't want to lose any more of you than I already have," Scar murmured, unwilling to raise his voice.

"I know, I get it," Cub replied. He sat back against the walls of the farm again, closing his eyes as the skulk veins wrapped tightly around him again.

Scar kissed his temple and pulled Cub into his arms, adding more comforting pressure that Cub melted into. He'd forgotten how soothing it felt to be close to him. Everything about him was a comfort now.

"Needed the silence. Didn't mean to panic you," Cub said.

"Don't apologise. We'll stay here until you feel better, alright?" Scar said.

"Thank you," Cub said, his ears suddenly deciding he'd heard enough sound. "Shhhh. Please."

Scar pressed a kiss to his head and let Cub settle in his arms. Maybe having Scar around would help after all. The silence fell like a blanket over them, and Cub sighed softly, still overwhelmed, but knowing he'd be okay. It might take a while, but he'd be okay.

[livingwellnessblog]

Healing the Mind and Body through Sound Frequencies: Exploring Brainwave, Meditative, and Trance States

Discover the ancient healing technique of sound frequencies for healing the mind and body. Explore the use of chants, mantras, gongs, and singing bowls in various cultures and traditions. Learn about the chakra frequencies and their effects on different

Healing the Mind and Body through Sound Frequencies: Exploring Brainwave, Meditative, and Trance States Introduction: The use of sound frequencies for healing is the most ancient healing technique, with documented use though many human cultures. Shamans use the beating of drums, and the sound of chants, and in the yogic tradition the use of gongs and mantras and chants goes back thousands of…

[garudabluffs]

7/3/2023

"Better Living Through Chemistry" - LSD, DMT and The Postmodern Worldview

By Blair Gelbond   2 comments

"Every society appears to have had a few mind-altering substances in its repertoire: some of these have been gentle modifiers of mood or energy; others radically transform our experience of personal and cosmic reality - our sense of Being itself. Many of these substances have been used at least since the beginning of written history - and most likely earlier.

Anthropologists tell us that there is nothing unusual about the ingestion of mind-altering chemicals - and that it is probably more the norm of human life than a deviation from it. They report that many societies we call "primitive" managed to utilize such drugs without having a "drug problem."

Without positing a linear cause and effect, the 1960's can also be labelled the beginning of the post-modern era, offering audacious critiques of the belief systems of the modern world. The post-modern worldview suggests that we live in a symbolic world, a social reality that we unconsciously construct together, and yet experience as an "objective" real world.

Thus, we live in a universe of "multiple realties," because different groups and languages construct different "stories" - or ways of interpreting life - generating a variety in one's sense of personal identity, time and space.

Fresh ideas about sanity, consciousness and objective truth and were enthusiastically embraced by the "counter-culture" and slowly began to enter the public milieu. The concept of a "socially-created reality" filtered into modern culture. Theodore Rozak characterized the events of the time as a revolt against the established culture, which he described as built on "the myth of objective consciousness."

In an upcoming series I hope to share the experiences of a number of intrepid explorers of "inner space," (some chemically-based - and others, who came to their realizations through meditation and other transformative methods). Among them will be Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), former professors of psychology at Harvard; Rick Strassman, M.D., author of DMT, The Spirit Molecule; also Christopher Bache, (a professor who taught for many years at Youngstown State University in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, and received YSU's Distinguished Professor Award for excellence in teaching and research). His book - LSD and the Mind of the Universe - catalogues 71 of his experiences exploring higher consciousness."

"It is not surprising that, until very recently, many psychedelic drugs - including marijuana (a mild psychedelic) were made illegal. Individuals in possession of such substances, if convicted, were sent to prison."

READ MORE https://www.opednews.com/articles/Better-Living-Through-Che-Chemistry_Livingverse_Worldview-World-View-230703-93.html#startcomments

LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Chris Bache, EP 261

youtube.com/ watch?v =o1xxbKPmLvE

Tracy Chapman -

youtube.com/ watch?v= 8QwvqKMXhL8All That You Have Is Your Soul - 12/4/1988 - Oakland Coliseum Arena (Official)