Chöd
Chöd is a spiritual practice found in Tibetan Buddhism that means, essentially, “to sever” or to “cut through one’s ego”. The practitioner of Chöd sets himself to wander in fearful places populated by both gods and demons and to offer one’s own body as food to them, realizing the true nature of the mind and to cut through subtle ignorance. It has been described as a special form of mysticism that unites shamanism with meditative practices.
“In Chöd-practice, the yogi or yogini journeys into the night world—the dangerous regions of ghosts, spirits and the damned, to bless all souls lost for a time on the wheel of existence. The selflessness of the practitioner’s compassion, his or her contact with spirits of the other-world, and the making of himself into a vehicle of healing, all tends to become a path for the hero to win the noetic Mind-Jewel of true awakening.” — Dharma Fellowship
Caliburn House Occult Detective Studios. A happy accident? Synchronicity?
This “night world” of “ghosts, spirits, and the damned” is Landon Connors’ stomping grounds. When the stars align, they align.
“To me a book is a message from the gods to mankind;
or, if not, should never be published at all.”
~Aleister Crowley
December 13, 2012 at 11:42 am
You’ll have to get Dr. Connors a special hat, then.
Sherlock Holmes went to Tibet (still then quite isolated if not completely ‘forbidden’) and had “spent some days with the head lama.” So when I was active in the Hounds of the Internet and needed a Nom, I was The Head Lama.
However, I think it actually means Corporeal Hod, as Landon Connors is responsible for embodying the orderly and magical essence of Hod where Yesod breaks through into Malkuth.
December 13, 2012 at 11:51 am
Oh, I like that.
December 13, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Reflecting on this more, my magical number is 8, and find the correlation here a fascinating turn.
The writings of both Crowley and Fortune, referencing Hod as the magician’s playground, has me now revisiting my old diaries when I was studying the Kabbalah fervently in the early 80s.
See what you’ve done?
December 13, 2012 at 2:46 pm
What city do you live in? Synchroni!
I’ve been working on that as well, with the added intent of balancing Hod with Netzach. Having those two connected by Pe (Mars and the Tower) is one of the oddities in my mind. Luria put Mem (= Water = The Hanged Man) on that path, which makes more sense.