Enlightenment – Crystal Star Publishing

October 23, 2022October 23, 2022

Three Awakenings & Sacred France #1

Remember Holy Blood, Holy Grail? The book that revealed the sacred bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene? One of the authors was Sir Henry Lincoln who went on from this book to discover the secret geometry underlying the sacred sites in Cathar Country. His protégé, Allysha Lavino, unveiled the sacred grid in her novel The Heretic. Here’s what she has to say about my memoir Three Awakenings.

“Have you ever experienced a life-changing, soul-shaking, Divine encounter?

In the footsteps of The Heretic, my dear friend Theresa took me up on my invitation to ‘See for yourself…’

She traveled to the power sites in the Languedoc of Southwest France and experienced a profound awakening.

As she tapped into the land of the Cathars, she experienced the ancient Wisdom there.

AND SHE DISCOVERED A POWERFUL MESSAGE…

Now, she’s decided to share this life-changing adventure in a powerful and intimate memoir. (She even mentions me and Sir Henry in the book!)

As a visionary fiction author, Theresa Crater usually writes magical stories about ancient temples, lost civilizations, and secret societies.

Now she’s bearing her heart in a powerful and intimate memoir about deep awakenings and Divine enounters… including the powerful magic she experienced following in the footsteps of Lily in The Heretic!

Theresa has actually lived a pretty amazing life—diving deeply into ancient schools of meditation and traveling the world through mythic lands of legend.

And I’m so excited to learn about the personal stories that have made her such a powerhouse visionary!!

But the main reason I’m looking forward to getting my hands on this book is the way Theresa translates and transmits magic.”

I’m blushing for sure.

Discover what happened to me in France. Support the Kickstarter campaign to hep bring the book to life!

September 13, 2016

Higher Consciousness and Visionary Fiction

I’ve been blogging recently about higher states of consciousness. What’s that got to do with writing fiction? One of the accomplishments of Visionary Fiction as I see it is to subjectively explore what higher states of consciousness feel like. It’s all well and good to understand that these states exist and have some concept of them intellectually, but the real point is to achieve them ourselves. Lot of visionary fiction imagines what that’s like.

As Jodine Turner puts it, “In Visionary Fiction, esoteric wisdom is embedded in story so that the reader can actually experience it, instead of merely learning about it.” I asked some of my fellow Visionary Fiction Alliance writers to send me excerpts and here they are. Some of these books may appeal to you. I haven’t read them all myself yet.

From Michael Neer’s The Elixir of Freedom: “The trees bowed down till the golden amber stopped right in front of Ravi and Verda, like a giant pendant adorning the trees. This had to be it, Ravi thought. The Heart of the Sun! The amber Heart hung like a jewel between them and the Sun. They looked through the Heart towards the sun. Waves of light stretched across land and space. They could see no end to the waves. They were infinite. Objects – trees, mountains, even the sun itself – were there – Ravi could make out their shapes—but it was like they were melted into one ocean of light. It was just one. Unified. Complete. Full. Immense.”

From Gerald R. Stanek’s Sonoran Ruminations: “She said she told Peter what she told me; how she’d been staring at the circle, and pretty soon she could see the wall behind the circle, and then she could see outside the wall, and she could see the whole city, and the whole desert all around, and the whole big valley, and the whole continent, and the whole planet, but she could still see the desert and the city and the wall and the circle and she could hear every sound and it was like she was everything and everyone else just as much as she was herself, and I said ‘I know’, and I smiled and rocked the baby.”

From Stefan Emunds: “Without warning, I enter into a lucid daydream. I find myself standing in front of a noisy river, but it’s no ordinary river – it’s the river of my thoughts and feelings, the stream of my internal dialogue. The river is deep with strong currents. I dip my foot into the cold water. Crossing the river seems like suicide, and I almost give up, but then the story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt across the Jordan into the Promised Land comes to mind. Is there a deeper, psychological meaning to this story? Then it occurs to me that I have neither the Ark of the Covenant to herald me, nor the Living God by my side. How can I part these waters? “The original meaning of covenant is promise,” the voice whispers into my right ear. ‘I promise that you will find your true self on the other side. Go ahead and cross.’”

From Bob Fahey’s The Gardens of Ailana: “As morning rose around her, Paulette carried no memories. This was joy without hope because the concept of hope held some belief that something was broken that needed fixing; something was ‘less’ that one wished could be ‘more’. There was no thought, no yearning for things to be different. Paulette had no concept of differences and moments. She had lost herself in the essence of sweetness.”

August 31, 2016

Knowledge is Structured in Consciousness

Now we come to an interesting aspect of states of consciousness. I talked about the seven states of consciousness in an earlier blog and described the subjective experience of each (to some degree). For example, while we’re sleeping, we have no conscious experience at all (unless you watch yourself sleep, which is a whole other topic). Dreaming is similar to waking, except one world is more symbolic while the other we experience as consensus reality. Reality is different in different states of consciousness.

But how can that be?

People say “we’re all one,” which is true. But do we always experience that? It’s the direct experience that’s important, not the intellectual understanding. Or people say, “All is illusion” (see Brahman Consciousness below). The Rosicrucians and other mystics such as quantum physicists tell us that everything is vibration.

So, if everything is simply vibration, everything is one, and all is illusion, then we can stand in front of a car going 60 mph and not get hurt, right? The car is vibration. The body is vibration. The two could blend. We’re all one anyway. You’d be fine. Right?

Depends on which “you” you’re talking about.

In waking state, that car is solid and so is that body you’re inhabiting. The car will win. Your immortal self will be fine, but you’ll need a new vehicle/body. But you knew that already.

Perhaps if you were in the state of Brahman Consciousness, a step higher than Unity, you’d be OK because you could manipulate physical form, tune the two vibrations so they’d be harmonious, and wa la. Still all intact. Brahman Consciousness is when we realize (experientially, not intellectually) that there never really was a manifestation. That everything is simply waves of consciousness in one big ocean. Hafiz puts it this way: “There are some who can visit that Luminous Sphere that reveals this life never was. The truth of that experience is reserved for so very few.”

Why is this important? Because it is vital to our growth that we honor our own experience. We can realize that we are immortal beings untouched by pain in that higher state, but pain is real here in this manifest world. (Yeah, I know. There’s not really a manifestation, but gee, it feels real to me right now. Knowledge is different in different states of consciousness.) So denying our pain—not allowing ourselves to experience it—delays our growth. It creates blocks to experiencing all of our consciousness.

My partner is fond of quoting his Egyptian/Khemitian teacher: “There is no separation. There is no (individual) soul, so who reincarnates?” That’s true. In a certain state of consciousness. But I am not directly experiencing that state. Yet.

In order to experience it and not just think about it, I need to meditate. To clear out the blocks in my system that dull my perception of that big Self. Otherwise, I could lie in the hammock and know that I am That already (which is true) so why bother?

Maharishi used to say it’s like the difference between thinking about traveling to Paris and being in Paris. You can buy a beret, get some French wine, purchase a great baguette, put up pictures of the Eiffel Tower in your work cubicle, study the language, and watch French movies. Or you can get in a plane and go to Paris. Is there a difference? I think so.

Knowledge is structured in Consciousness. Go to Paris. Don’t just think about it.

August 17, 2016

The Seven States of Consciousness

The Vedas teach there are seven states of consciousness and we are equipped to experience them all. They each have their own subjective and objective reality.

Waking State. Yeah, that’s just your ordinary being awake and experiencing the world in your daily life. The brain is in mostly Beta waves, and your vital signs are those that the doctor measures when you go for your check up.
Sleeping State. We don’t really experience sleep. We know we were asleep when we wake up and feel refreshed. Sleep is like the night janitor, cleaning up the day’s stress. The brain moves from theta to delta waves and our metabolism drops. You can tell someone’s asleep often by their deep, slow breathing.
Dreaming State. We experience dreams. They’re much like waking state, only it’s not “real” in the sense that we ordinarily use the word. There are various theories about the meaning of dreams, but we do know they are necessary. If people don’t dream, they go a little nuts after a while. (Remember that Star Trek episode where dreams were suppressed on the ship?) This state is sometimes called REM sleep, during which we experience rapid eye movements, our muscles sometimes twitch, and our breathing becomes more shallow and rapid. Brain waves during dreaming are similar to waking.

Now it gets more interesting.

Rear View of Two Buddhist Monks in Orange Robes Sitting on a Tiled Floor

Transcendental State. This is a state of consciousness that is most often experienced during mediation and sometimes in the quiet of nature or listening to certain types of music. This is an experience of the root of consciousness, the universal mind that forms the basis of all consciousness. Indeed, all existence. It is experienced as deep, silent awareness. Wakefulness without an object of perception. The self is resting in the Self. Physiologically, we experience the deepest rest in this state. The breath and heart rate slow dramatically. For example, in this research oxygen consumption drops 15.5 percent during meditation vs 3.5 percent during regular rest. The brain experiences an unprecedented coherent state, with both sides of the brain operating together in alpha waves, which indicate relaxation. Check out this video of brain waves during TM, a popular meditation.
Cosmic Consciousness. Here’s where we combine Waking with the Transcendental State. Yeah, sounds like a contradiction, but if we continue to experience the Transcendent, the brain and body and mind like it so much that they learn how to balance the two together. Here our sense of who we are shifts from the small self we ordinarily have experienced up to now to Universal Consciousness. But we don’t lose who we are. It’s like our personality is floating in a boat in a big sea of universal awareness. Physiological research is just beginning. Preliminary results show increased theta/alpha activity with eyes open, more frontal coherence and increased cortical participation in normal activity, and increased theta/alpha and decreased muscle tension during sleep.
God Consciousness. This is the state in which the person begins to directly perceive more and more subtle levels of the world surrounding them. This is where those abilities our superheroes have reside. Well, maybe not all of them, but common experiences might include clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc. It’s called “God” Consciousness because this is where the creator gods are said to reside in the Vedas—at the most subtle level of creation. We are supposed to be able to perceive them directly in this state. I don’t know if there is any physiological research about this state—just writings from people (rishis or seers) who have experienced it.
Unity Consciousness. In Unity, not only do we experience the Self as Universal Consciousness, we perceive everything and everyone else as that also. Yet we don’t lose the ability to function in the “real” world. Again, I’m not aware of any scientific studies of this state—just writings from the rishis. This progression of consciousness is described in the Vedas as, “I am That (Cosmic Consciousness), Thou art That (God Consciousness, all this is That (Unity Consciousness).”

How do you get there? In my opinion, meditate regularly and relax. Find the meditation that really works for you. You can meditate anywhere. Live your life, deal with whatever arises, and it will come.