Free Online Herbalism Course

Herbalism is a key element in studying Alchemy as it trains us in the lesser circulation before advancing to metals in the Great Work, or Magnum Opus.  Knowing the healing properties of herbs is essential, as you are not merely going through the motions.  These are consumable products.  You don’t want to poison yourself, so it’s best to learn what you’re dealing with.

As a disclaimer – I am not advising anyone to consume any chemicals or trying to provide any medical advice.  I AM NOT A PHYSICIAN, nor am I licensed to practice medicine in any form.  I can provide data only and allow you, the reader, to continue research in order to make an informed decision.

That said, I have found that learning about the herbs is easier when explaining it to someone else.  But the key is to find that someone else.  Unless there is a student to explain it to, or unless you’re selling something, it has been my experience that friends and family really have no interest in hearing you prattle on about herbs.  As I am not a Master Herbalist on starting out, I find it easier to sell the herbs thereby allowing customers the opportunity to begin the dialogue.

The most cost effective way in this case is by going through a well established herbal company called Nature’s Sunshine Products.  It’s sort of like Avon, but they sell herbal supplements instead of lipstick.  You have to become a member in order to sell their products wholesale, but unlike Avon, membership will cost you a little bit.  You need to buy $40 worth of their products at wholesale price.  Not too bad of an investment considering you’re buying health for yourself at a relative discount.  I say relative because they are a sconch more expensive than the actual discount brands, but you do get what you pay for – and in my experience, the health food stores tend to sell a lot of filler supplements, i.e. useless.

Nature’s Sunshine Products has been in operation for over thirty years.  Not a bad run.  Enough time to establish one’s self as a legitimate business opportunity for those of us wanting to get into the field.  

I will, from time to time, try to feature a particular product as I learn about it.  If you would like to learn more from a great and FREE introductory herbalist course, you can check out http://www.naturalhealthschool.com/.  Keep in mind that it is run by a member of NSP’s sales force so everything is geared toward those products.  The course is a decent one, it’s all generally high school Biology.  If you didn’t have to take a Medical Terminology course, this course is also accompanied by a fair introductory lesson for that as well.

Dr. Silverman, the author of the program, has also Youtubed some pretty interesting videos – linking them to his course page.  My particular favorite is the video on black berries – it’s a pretty good scheme he’s got going on.  Quite inspiring, actually.

All in all, I enjoyed it and I’ve it in my list of favorites for references as I learn more about the company.  

He does offer the student the opportunity to pay for a certificate from the course, which really doesn’t give you anything but an ego boost.  It doesn’t provide you with any leg up to get into a nationally recognized guild such as AHG.  If you’re intent on being an Herbalist and making a living at it, you’ve got a few years and apprenticeships to go to do that but you can still be a knowledgeable herb salesperson through NSP.

No suggested additional reading.

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What is the Secret of the Universe?

Simply put – I don’t know. But I would be leery of the man who says that he does know.

What I do know is that there is a common thread pervading all of the universe and can be observed on a graph over time by studying the stock market.

This is a joke, right?

Au contraire, mon frère. R.N. Elliott discovered quite some time ago, nearly 100 years ago as a matter of fact, that the stock market followed a basic wave pattern of five motive waves and three corrective waves. The whole process is actually a bit more complicated than that, as every topic in this blog tends to be, but the concept is simple and applicable to alchemy.

So why am I discussing this wave process? As you will observe from the rest of the posts on this blog site, I’m quite interested in the quintessence and the human mind (otherwise I wouldn’t be an alchemist and hypnotist). I’m also enthralled with prediction (another reason why I’m a hypnotist as well as an astrologer for that matter). The Elliott Wave Principle is an essential component to understanding all of these things, or is it the other way around? Either way, they compliment each other. In addition to this, I also feel that in order to pursue any of these studies, one must have an efficient supplemental income because they become quite expensive and time consuming hobbies.

I AM NOT A BROKER AND CAN NOT GIVE YOU FINANCIAL ADVICE!! Remember, I’m an apprentice of sorts and trying to learn, while sharing with you what I have already learned.

One final note before I continue to explain the relationships outlined above: I do not intend to reinvent the wheel. If you would like to know more about the Elliott Wave Principle, please go to the Elliott Wave International website for a free introductory course. I suggest signing up for a free account as well for updates and access to additional free learning materials. What follows is only an overview and how it applies to the esoterica of this Workshop.

There is a number, consistent with growth and development patterns throughout the universe. Galaxies swirl in this pattern, the pine cone and sunflower grows in this spiral, and the nautilus shell is spun in the same shape. It is called the Golden Ratio, often called the Fibonacci sequence, a geometric pattern which can be observed in human thought patterns by tracking the buying and selling patterns of the stock market. The Elliott Wave demonstrates the Fibonacci sequence via motive waves (those moving up) and corrective waves (those moving down). The more closely these waves are observed, the easier it becomes to see that each motive wave is made up of other motive and corrective waves. Likewise, all corrective waves are also made up of additional motive and corrective waves. Not only does this exemplify the concept of “As above, so below” but it also demonstrates the universal principle of duality, through active and reactive properties.

Because the stock market shows a society’s fears and desires through what and how they purchase and sell, it is easy to track and document human thought process based on the pain/pleasure principle. This means that these waves, descriptive of the Golden Ratio, actually give evidence to the fact that our thoughts also form in the same geometric pattern as the Nautilus, Pine Cone and Sunflower. There is a unifying thing, a common thread uniting us with all of creation. It is essentially the fifth element displayed mathematically.

Logic should then lead us to consider that if there is a continuous pattern, it should be predictable. I have yet to fully crack the pattern myself, but I understand it in principle. If it is predictable, and we find ourselves short of cash to pursue our studies with an efficient source of income, what better means of funding our education than capitalizing on this pattern and use it for trading?

I will be attempting to practice day trading on a trading game site and will post my activities here on random posts. If you would like to join me, keep an eye on my posts for the name of the trading game site.

Further Reading
R.N. Elliott’s The Major Works of R.N. Elliott

R.N. Elliott’s Nature’s Law: The Secret of the Universe

A.J. Frost’s Elliott Wave Principle: Key to Market Behavior

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Foundations in Hypnosis

I studied hypnosis through the Hypnosis Motivation Institute located in Tarzana California, started by John Kappas Phd.  The core of his teachings are principally Freudian but hold a universal esoteric concept of duality and opposition.  This post will deal primarily with the concept of this duality, how it is developed in the child and how we can then predict an individuals motivations.  The more advanced and astute student of Astrology will be able to further use this knowledge to identify what time of year a native was born.

The below video is the first lesson in the Foundation Course provided by the Hypnosis Motivation Institute. Sign up at their website to become a Hypnotist for free.



John Kappas identified that in every relationship there are two personality types, one who builds an emotional wall and is more distant than the other, and a second who is much more insecure, requiring more frequent reassurances from the first.  This dichotomy develops from childhood and so we can see how deeply it is engrained in our subconscious as we begin to delve into the studies of this predictable behavior pattern.   It is important to note about the following explanation that no person is 100% of either personality type, but in every relationship each person leans towards one particular type.  This is true in business relationships, romantic relationships and friendships.

From birth to approximately age nine, a child is mainly influenced by his primary caretaker – typically the mother or mother figure.  We know that a child is a learning sponge during these most “impressionable” years, and so this is the time when a child develops his suggestibility – his learning style if you will.  If the mother speaks directly to the child, telling him exactly what she wants of him, then he will begin to learn directly, assuming that when someone says something, it is exactly what that person wants.  There should be no inference required.  However, if the mother speaks to the child inferentially, requiring the child to try to decipher what she actually wants of him, then he will learn in the same manner, analyzing everything before accepting it as the truth.   

During his adolescent years, from approximately ten to fifteen, the child observes the interaction between mother and father figures.  Let me digress for just a moment and try to explain this the same way Dr. Kappas does.  The basic instinct of any organism is to survive.  The more complex the nervous system, the more options the organism has to determine what will keep it alive.  Humans, having a more complex system, developed a subconscious and so many of our motivations are subconsciously and “instinctually” driven.  For the first nine years of a child’s life, the life giver was the mother figure and he had all of her attention.  Subconsciously, the child equates Mother’s attention to life giving.  If he does not have her attention, he will not live.  This is all subconscious, happening behind the scenes and therefore not critically analyzed by the individual (i.e. you don’t know you’re thinking this).  As the child grows and begins to assert his autonomy, he perceives the father figure as competition for Mother’s attention.  Seeing how Father interacts with Mother helps the child learn how he should in turn interact with Mother to gain her attention and therefore continue to live.  This time period is typically in the adolescent years of ten to fifteen years old.

Here’s how the universal concept of opposites comes into play.  If a person learns inferentially, he will express himself directly.  If a person learns directly, he will express himself inferentially.  We learned that if the mother expresses directly, then the child learns directly.  So, according to the rule of opposites, if the mother expresses herself directly, it naturally follows that she learns inferentially.  And if she learns inferentially, she will naturally be more attracted to someone that will speak inferentially allowing her the opportunity to analyze statements.  So if the child learns directly and imitates the father, who we have determined now to express himself inferentially, the child will also express himself inferentially to gain the mother’s attention.  In short, the child will seek out people more like his or her mother to interact with.  Daughters don’t necessarily grow up to marry someone like their father.  More often than not, that person is much more like their mother.

Dr. Kappas differentiated the two personality types with the labels Emotional and Physical, or Emo and Phys, and sometimes just E and P.  The Emotional person is the one in the relationship who most often builds the emotional wall to protect him or herself from vulnerability, whereas the Physical person requires constant reassurance in any relationship and will often feel physical pain when emotionally injured.  Likewise, it is the Emotional person who will learn inferentially, analyzing everything in order to protect himself from vulnerability, whereas the Physical seeks out reassurance often times through complements or adorations of some sort. For information on how this can be applied to astrology, and related to astrophysics, subscribe to my blog.

Further Reading:
John Kappas Professional Hypnotism Manual

John Kappas Relationship Strategies: The E&P Attraction

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Prediction

Please read this brief introduction if you are new to this blog before reading the following post.

Predictions are made every day, but as Robert Zoller points out in his Diploma Course, prediction is impossible without proper delineation.  So what does this mean and what predictions are we talking about?

The meteorologist studies atmospheric conditions and based on previous events, anticipated occurrences and details too laboring for the layman to research, s/he makes a mathematical prediction of when it will rain, snow or even when a hurricane will make landfall.  We all know that it's not an exact science, and the joke is quite consistent that the "weatherman" is always wrong.  Actually, meteorologists are pretty accurate 80%-90% of the time, but the few times that they're wrong give us the fuel to joke about their inadequacies.

The origins of the meteorologist actually stem from man's constant need to know what's coming.  For this, we have always looked to the stars.  The word meteorology comes from the Greek meteorologia, meaning "treatise on celestial phenomena".  Even in the Book of Genesis, we read that God put lights in the firmament and said "let them be for signs and for seasons", evidence that early man was dependant on celestial activity to predict events.

Traditional Astrology, including Horary, Natal, Mundane and many other branches, is no less a complicated matter or any less effective of a technique than modern meteorology.  Its only perceived folly is that it is antiquated in comparison to our moern understanding of the cosmos.  The Astrologer knows different, but the layman does not.

It is imperative that the novice, apprentice, and sometimes even the experienced astrologer understand and remember that "planetary rulership" does not necessarily mean that the planets empirically affect any person or object.  Instead, rulership is demonstrable evidence of the Hermetic adage "As Above, So Below".  For instance, our solar system is representative of cellular activity and molecular activity within us and all things.  The very simplest example is that of an atom, wherein we observe an electron orbiting the nucleus, just as the planets orbit the sun.  Before we understood the galaxy to be heliocentric, we still understood the planets and stars to orbit the earth - either way its the same concept as an atom.  So we observe the motion of the planets because that same motion is happening here on earth on a smaller scale.

To provide a working example of just how astrology works, imagine two solar systems, containing exactly the same shape and orbiting the planets but occupying two separate spaces and oriented in two different directions.  We'll call them S1 and S2.  S1 is horizontal meaning that the planets orbit the sun of S1 counterclockwise from left to right as we look at it.  S2 is vertical, where the planets orbit the sun counterclockwise up and down as we look at it.  As these two solar systems come within each others spaces, the planets orbiting them, and the gravity which each planet owns, affects those of the other.  When we have two people interacting with each other, we understand that the habits and personality traits affecting each of their decisions will also affect the reaction of the other.  As a hypnotist, I have had multiple opportunities to observe the motivations and habits of individuals as well as relationships and found this to be unequivocally true.

In order to properly predict when an event will occur, the Astrologer must take into account as many details of the circumstance as he can determine.  This process is called delineation.  Once he has accurately delineated all of these interactions, he can then mathematically calculate the time the outcome will culminate.

It should go without saying, but I'll mention it anyways, that the reason we look to the stars to determine these events is because of the scale.  The simple question is then asked, is it easier to observe the motion of the stars than it is to observe the motion of atoms? Obviously.

Suggested Reading:
John Frawley's The Real Astrology

John Frawley's The Real Astrology Applied

William Lilly's Christian Astrology

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The Tesseract

Please read this brief introduction if you are new to this blog before reading the following post.

Ah, yes... Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time may have been a wonderful novel but she did touch on one geometric concept that is central to the concept of the Perennial Philosophy inherent in Alchemy.

The Tesseract



Lets move first from simplicity to complexity. 

The above rotating model demonstrates my personal hypothesis of the motion of the Universe.  To begin with, notice the cube in the immediate center of the structure.  As it progresses to the right, it widens and then moves backwards to the left side of the image, finally collapsing in on itself and returning to the center to begin the cycle over again.

Let's compare this to the model of the Big Bang.

In the beginning, the Earth was without form and void... oh, wait.  Sorry wrong story. Or is it?  More on that later.

In the beginning, the entire Universe was completely contained within a space smaller the the head of a needle, ultimate density, and within this space were the four primary fources, electromagnetic force, strong and weak nuclear forces and gravity.  For some reason they broke apart causing the universe to inflate (known as the inflationary period).  Within an extremly short period of time, the universe blew up from the size of a pin head to the size of a grapefruit.  Look again at the Tesseract.  As the center moves outward to the right side, it expands.

Here comes the tricky part and is dependent on the critical density of the universe.  I refer the reader to NASA's website which explains it much more succinctly than I can in this post.  While current research might suggest that the universe is flat, I respectfully disagree for the sole purpose that if it is open (or flat) then General Relativity is an imcomplete theory.  With Relativity having proven its effectiveness in more than just Theoretical Physics, but also in practical reality, I am inclined to believe that Einstein was right when he offered mathematical proof of a closed universe.

That said, let's assume that the universe is shaped like a balloon.  Now we have to understand the basic concept of relativity and time, which essentially says that every point in space is unquestionably connected with a specific time - thus the "space-time continuum".  So, for instance, where you sit right now is not only where but also when.  That space under your butt will be fractionally different and continues to become so as you read this.

Let's imagine that we can pick a point on the Tesseract and say that that's where we are now.  Try to follow that point and imagine that as we travel from the past into the future, we begin to notice that our past is actually becoming our future.  Go ahead and try it.  I'll stop typing for a second so you can look back up at the image.

Done?  So in summary, we are here now, because we were here before and we will continue to be here because we are here now.

Suggested follow up reading:

Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time

Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity and Special Relativity

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Alchemist Apprentice Workshop

The purpose of this blog is for learning purposes.  It is my intention to throw hypothesis and theories out to the world wide web, provide my findings of multiple topics important to the truly aspiring Alchemist and esotericist, and receive valuable input from the readers.  Comments will be available only so long as the comments made are respectful of all paradigms, profane language is non-existant, and spam is completely avoided.  If you leave a link to your blog (and if it's on topic) I will try my hardest to visit every site provided.

I hope you enjoy the posts and visit often.