And Why Honest Healing-Your-Shadow is So Important
I can’t believe 走火入魔 is in English Wikipedia
“‘zhouhuorumo’ is a Chinese-culture concept traditionally used to indicate that something has gone wrong in spiritual or martial arts training. The qigong community uses this term to describe a physiological or psychological disorder believed to result during or after qigong practice, due to "improper practice" of qigong and other self-cultivation techniques.”
I used to hear this term a lot in my early days in Chinese Metaphysics — my mentor constantly shared many a cautionary tale about metaphysics practitioners who, due to either fame or just becoming fixated on specific metaphysical ‘secret knowledge’ — becomes consumed by the ego, taking over and overriding the practitioner’s entire personality. Almost like being possessed (presumably by the fear of losing something)
Well, after a decade of teaching and (happily) consulting under the old Academy’s banner, and having met over a thousand students and clients…. I’d met my fair share of interesting, sometimes hair-raising, personalities myself. All in the name of metaphysics. (Or was it just an excuse for the ego/shadow to gain leverage?)
And in the spiritual path? It gets exponentially ‘darker’.
Especially back then when things were much more ‘new agey’ and woo-woo. No, wait. It still is lol.
It is much easier to mask and hide — ‘re-language’ — one’s psychological wounds and dysfunction in the ‘spiritual industry’.
I am forever grateful to my Egyptian alchemy and energy healing teacher, the late Elisabeth Jensen, who trained us extensively in the topics of emotional projection, psychic infestation, entities and attachments, spirit releasement, energy protection, psychic shielding, and much more. A registered nurse for most of her adult life, she was an uncompromising force. Do it properly or not at all. That was why my full Master Practitioner & Teacher training, including 30 client case-study reports (10 being long-term progress tracking), took me 3 years to complete. And I was already one of the fastest ones — having studied psychology and counseling in college beforehand had helped me tremendously.
We had to be able to differentiate between a true cathartic and healing cry — versus a cry that’s attention-seeking. You’d be surprised at the number of unconscious things people do to gain attention and validation (manipulation from an unacknowledged wound).
We learned how to differentiate between someone who’s really possessed or one who’s pretending to be. There are various levels of possession… but that’s a story for another day. It’s because of all the bizarre things I’ve seen and experienced with my own eyes (in healing sessions) that had taught me to be careful and respectful with energies.
Don’t mess with things you can never fully grasp or understand. Your ego will tell you otherwise — the question is, has your Wisdom been cultivated enough to keep your ego in constant check?
In tantric understanding, there are various stages of being taken over by one’s (darkness of the) own ego. This often involves some damage caused by the Kundalini energy being FORCED or awakened PREMATURELY.
Students used to ask me, “How come so many greedy politicians or cult leaders can achieve so much in their life despite their ill-intentions? What happened to karma?”
Well, there are 2 main intertwining reasons:
1. They have good karma ripening from their past lives, giving them the right opportunities and ability to meet the right people in this life time. Many cult leaders themselves have had some degree of karmic accomplishments AND spiritual practices from previous lifetimes.
2. People who are emotionally lost, unsure of themselves, grieving, or simply just greedy — often fall prey to the ‘charisma’ and manipulations of the above mentioned.
Ayurveda recognizes 16 personality types. Among the Rajasic category, there are the Vulture, Ghostly, Serpent, Rakshasha types — and the highest of all, the Asura types. They are “great and powerful leaders, charismatic, brilliant but dominated by egoism and capable of manipulation and deception.”
(The Sattvic category sees the Gandharva, Kubera, Varuna, Yama, Indra, and Rishi types…)
Fire is indeed, the heart of spirituality and the spiritual path. Every ancient tradition teaches the sacredness and the power of Fire in transforming and purifying all impurities. Yet, do you know what is truly being transformed or purified? Or is it all just in the head, chasing another dopamine rush over another weekend workshop?
The term 走火入魔 is a reminder to be wise and respectful when dealing with Fire. Just because it is Period 9 now it does NOT mean that ‘enlightenment’ happens automatically. Remember, this is NOT the first Period 9 the world is experiencing, so don’t let your wishful thinking turn into naivety and — I’m gonna say it — stupidity. The word ‘ignorance’ just doesn’t cut it anymore.
Spiritual teachings and paths, as laid down by the ancient sages, whichever tradition you choose, exist for a reason. They have withstood the test of time. Period 9 is also about flashy things that are ‘hollow on the inside’, did we conveniently forget that part? Can you even tell the difference between 坤卦 Kun Gua versus the actual 離卦 Li Gua nowadays?
(What happened to all the foundation work from Period 8 艮卦?)
Last but not least, Period 9, being the last of the numbers, is meant to be a CULMINATION of everything we’ve learned from 1 to 8! You don’t just suddenly ‘forget everything’ and hop into the hot air balloon of ‘ascension’!
Is there even a balloon in the first place? Maybe, maybe not.
But the hot air? Most definitely.
Head in the clouds, fine. Dream big. But feet on the ground. And with what’s coming? My friends: dig deep.
May wisdom — and common sense — prevail over ignorance and desperation. We create reality as how we are, not what we hope. A grounded self creates a grounded reality. A healthy self reflects a healthy inner reality.
Then perhaps, enlightenment might truly become a possibility, and not delusion.
Cheers.
S.
12/6/2024
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