The Blood is the physical body, the G'uph.

Jing (Mana) is the Nefesh, or Fetch.

Qi (Mana-mana) is the Ruach, or Talker.

Shen (Mana-loa) is the Neshamah, or Godself.

~Muninn's Kiss

I've been reading part of The way of Qigong by Kenneth S. Cohen.  It talks about the Three Treasures, Jing, Qi, and Shen.


Jing can be seen as Yin Qi.  It is sexual energy.  It is the lowest form of Qi, being closest to the body, and the earth.  It manifests as reproductive and sexual fluids (Yin Jing), and saliva (Yang Jing).  It is associated with water.

Jing is the substance of growth and development.  It reaches its peek at around age twenty-one, and then decreases unless you work to preserve it.  It creates bone marrow and brain grey matter, and flows through the bones.  It usually flows downward, but by reversing the flow and getting it flow up to the brain, the brain can be revitalized.  Jing comes from the kidneys and the lungs.  It is stored in the lower dan tian, located in the abdomen, just below the navel.


Qi, used in this context, is neutral in relation to Jing and Shen.  It is the balance of Yin and Yang.  It is associated with air.

Qi, in this context, is generated primarily in the the spleen and is stored in the middle dan tian, located near the heart.  It travels in the meridians, up and down.


Shen is Yang Qi.  It is spiritual energy.  It is the highest form of Qi, being closest to heaven.  It is associated with fire.

Shen means both spirit and "to stretch".  It travels in eight extra meridians, moving primarily upward.  It's generated primarily in the liver and heart, and is stored in the upper dan tian, located in the head behind the third eye.  Shen is best seen through the eyes.



I've talked before about the three Mothers, Shin, Aleph, and Mem, and their relationships with the three souls in Kabbala.  Shin is fire, and is the Neshamah, the Godself.  Aleph is air, and is the Ruach, the Talker.  Mem is water, and is the Nefesh, the Fetch.  You'll notice the similarities between these and the Three Treasures.  Shin is fire, like Shen.  Aleph is air, like Qi.  Mem is water, like Jing.  You'll recall that each of the souls uses, and is made from a type of energy, according to Feri and Huna.  The Fetch uses and is made up of mana.  The Talker uses and is made up of mana-mana.  The Godself uses and is made up of mana-loa.  If the three souls are associated with the same substances, fire, air, and water, as the types of energy in Qigong, and the souls use energy, it follows that the energies are the same.  Mana is the same as Jing.  Mana-mana is the same as Qi.  Mana-loa is the same as Shen.  This means that by studying the Three Treasures, we can learn more about the three types of mana, and hence about the three souls.

What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine?:

In TCM theory, blood and Qi are inseparable. Blood is the "mother" of Qi; it carries Qi and also provides nutrients for its movement. In turn, Qi is the "commander" of the blood. This means that Qi is the force that makes blood flow throughout the body and provides the intelligence that guides it to the places where it needs to be. Blood and Qi also affect one another and have the dynamic ability to transfer various properties back and forth. For example, after labor and delivery, a woman may develop a fever. TCM understands this fever to be related to blood loss, not normally an infection. Losing too much blood causes an overall Qi deficiency. When there is a Qi deficiency, the body cannot function properly and therefore presents with a fever.

So, Qi is carried in the blood and is inseparable from the blood.  In our discussion of the Fetch, we found that it is tied to the body by the blood.  One way to stimulate the Fetch and make it more health is by using massage to increase blood flow.  This also increases Qi flow.  Qi flows through the Fetch, just as it flows through the blood, because the blood can't be separated from the Fetch and Qi can't be separated from the blood.  The energy making up the Fetch is Qi.

One of the functions the Fetch has is to create mana from such things as eating, drinking, breathing, and having sex.  The Fetch gathers mana and uses it to survive.  It also passes it to the Godself, to turn into mana-loa.  The Fetch is made up of mana and feeds on mana.  If the Fetch is made up of mana, and the Fetch is made up of Qi, Qi must be the same thing as mana.

~Muninn's Kiss

Six Levels of Healing  (Part 20): The Healing of Body and Soul:

The "connected intermediate," by which the soul--the nefesh--is bound to the body, is the blood. In the Torah we find explicitly that "the blood is the soul [nefesh]." The Hebrew word for "blood," (dam) is cognate to the word for "likeness" (demut). This level of healing relates to the Divine likeness in which man was created.

The very name of the first man, Adam, is cognate to the word for “blood” (dam). The name Adam can be read “I shall become blood,” alluding to the power to draw the nefesh into the body by means of the blood, the function accomplished by the expert physician.

The Nefesh, or Fetch, is the first soul to develop in a new baby.  It develops as soon as the baby develops a blood system.  This is during the first month.  The Ruach develops later.  The Neshamah already exists and becomes attached to the Nefesh at some point, I'm not sure when.  The Nefesh has a much older memory than the Ruach, having developed first.

It is the blood that the Nefesh is tied to.  As long as the blood is flowing, the Nefesh remains.  It actually remains with the body for a few days after the body dies, but with no blood, it is no longer connected to the body.

Blood is full of iron.  As it flows, it creates an electromagnetic field.  I believe it is this field that the Nefesh is actually connected to.

Blood has power.  This is why it has always been involved with sacrifice.  Why does blood have power?  Because it's tied to the Nefesh, where mana gathers.  The Nefesh is the life force of the animal or human.  The blood is where it connects to the body and gives the body life.

~Muninn's Kiss

Feri teaches that the lowest soul, the Fetch, or Nefesh in Kabbalah, is connected to the Godself, the Neshamah in Kabbalah.  The Talker (the Ruach) speaks to the Fetch and the Fetch speaks to the Godself.  There is a connection between the Fetch and the Godself.  But how does this work?  Kabbalah provides an answer.

The Jewish Home Chapter 5: Five Levels of the Soul - An Inverted Seal:

In the first model, the home corresponds to the highest level of the nefesh, the makeef harachok, called the yechida.

The Jewish Home Chapter 5: Five Levels of the Soul - An Inverted Seal:

The five levels of the soul are called nefesh, ruach, neshama, chaya, yechida. The yechida reflects itself in the nefesh.

Each person has three souls, the Nefesh, the Ruach, and the Neshamah.  The Neshamah is made up of three souls, the Neshamah, the Chiah, and the Yechidah.  The Yechidah is the highest level of the Neshamah.  If the Yechidah is also the highest level of the Nefesh, this shows the connection.  I find it interesting that the Nefesh doesn't just connect to the Neshemah, it connects to the highest level, the level closest to G-d.

~Muninn's Kiss

I just finished reading Etheric Anatomy: the Three Selves and Astral Travel by Victor and Cora Anderson.  Victor and Cora were the founders of Feri Witchcraft.  It's a very good book, if a little strange.  I'm glad I read it.

The first section is Victor's description of the three souls.  The second section is Cora's description of the three souls, the Ha Prayer and Kala, and of out-of-body experiences.  The final section is Victor's description of Astral sex.  That is the strange part.

The book gives the most detailed description of the three souls that I've ever read, whether in Feri or in Kabbalah.  It's a great description and one everyone should read.

FFF
~Muninn's Kiss

Ha in Hawaiian has two meanings.  One is "four".  The other is "to breathe".  This is very interesting to me.  It is used to represent the three souls and the body (four).  The Ha prayer used in KaHuna and Feri Witchcraft utilizes four breathes to align the three souls and the body.

The fifth letter of the Hebrew aleph-beth is Heh.  Heh means "window" and is the number "five".  It is also mystically is the first "breathe", G-d breathing life into the world.  Kether, the Crown, is the first breathe, and Chokmah, Wisdom, is breathe from breathe.  The breathe is life breathed into man, the soul in three parts.  In Kabbalah, there is another soul-part, the Q'uph, which connects the three souls to the body.  It could be said we have three souls, plus the Q'uph and the body, so five parts.

The H sound seems tied both to the breathe and the souls and body.

FFF
~Muninn's Kiss

A different way of looking at the Three Souls (not the Feri or Kabbalah way):

The Tree of Enchantment: Ancient ... - Google Book Search:

So what are the implications of the threefold life?  Well, working with the threefold life is similar to using your feet, hands, and other parts of your body.  You have them.  They were given to you for a purpose in your life.  Not to use them if they are functional is to volunteer for self-imposed restrictions that are against the natural plan.  Likewise, the three walkers are vital appendages to your total being, created for use in fulfillment of your potential.  They are always in use unconsciously, for these are natural functions of the walkers.  But in addition to fulfillinf functions, they are bodies of flesh, energy, and liquids that have their own capacities for perception, communication, and power (defined as "the ability to affect change").

Each component of the threefold life has its own characteristics and role in the creative epoch.  The total sum of the threefold life makes up who and what you are.  Not all orders of life partake of this threefold life.  The characteristics of each walker are as follows:

• The star walker has the original plan for your life.  When you pray to the Creator (however you envision it), the prayers are heard and carried by your star walker to the source.  In that way, it is your personal "Christ."
• The dream walker receives this plan as a mirror receives an image and reflects it outward to the surface walker.  The dream walker attracts all of the necessary resources to implement the plan or design of the star walker.
• The surface walker implements the plan.  However, the surface walker is very element-based and can be led by its passions.

Each of the walkers is aligned to one of the three worlds.  The surface walker is aligned to the stone world, the dream walker is aligned to the sea world, and the star walker is aligned to the star world.  In each of these worlds are primary powers, known as the Vision Keys.  Therefore, there is a direct relationship between each specific walker, the worlds in which they reside, and the keys that are dominant powers in those worlds.  Each walker mediates specific powers from its world into the total threefold life of the seeker.  I call these powers "agents," because thye bring with them other powers or potencies, as noted in Table 5.

When the relationships between the walkers, the worlds, and the keys are viewed in this way, we see that the walkers are imprinted with the keys and discover the intensity and dominance of the imprint.  This means that certain keys are dominant in each person.  One or more keys will be "key" in each seeker's fulfillment of personal powers and potencies in the three worlds.

The Dream Walker is the Fetch of Feri and the Nefesh of Kabbalah. The Surface Walker is the Talker of Feri and the Ruach of Kabbalah. The Star Walker is the Godself of Feri and the Neshamah of Kabbalah.

FFF
~Muninn's Kiss

I've been thinking about the Iron Pentacle of Feri Witchcraft when I've been walking that last few times.  Before, I talked about the Iron Pentacle as the lower triad of the Tree of Life.  I've been looking at it in relation to the entire tree.

The first point of the Iron Pentacle is Sex.  Sex in Kabbalah is about giving and receiving.  It's Yesod, Foundation, as male, giving to Malkuth, Kingdom, as female.  This giving is through Tau, the Seal of creation.  This is the lowest section of the middle pillar, the Pillar of Air.  In the Tanakh, marriage is usually considered the point of consumation rather than a cerimony.  Sex is the Seal of marriage, just as Tau is the Seal of creation.  We can look at Sex as the relationship between the Ruach and the Nefesh, the Talker and the Fetch.  If we look at the Ruach as male and the Nefesh as female, Sex is the movement of mana from the Ruach to the Nefesh.  Mana is taken into the body by the Ruach, through many different methods, as I've discussed before.  This mana is given to the Nefesh by the Ruach.  This aligns these two souls.  Sex is symbolic for this process.  The Nefesh then gives this mana to the Neshamah, the Godself, the Nefesh acting as the male and the Neshamah as female.  This aligns these two souls.  The Neshamah then feeds back to the Ruach, the Neshamah as male and the Ruach as female.

The second point is Passion.  Passion is the Fire.  It is the right pillar, the Pillar of Fire, made up of Chokmah, Wisdom, Chesed, Mercy, and Netzach, Victory.  Passion is about embracing our emotions and accepting them for what they are.  Emotions come out of the Fetch, influencing the Ruach.  The point is to accept your emotions, not let them rule you.  The Fetch is fickle, as are our emotions.  We have to accept them and focus them, using them to bring us to Power, rather than denying them or letting them control us.  If we ignore them, we have no Power.  If we let them rule us, it will consume us like Fire.

The third point is Power.  It is left pillar, the Pillar of Water, made up of Binah, Understanding, Geburah, Judgement, and Hod, Glory.  Power is fluid, always changing like water.  It is the intellect.  Power is about controlling and channelling our Passion.  Once again, we can't let Power rule us.  Power is like the waves of the ocean.  It can pull you under with ease if you aren't careful.  You have to learn to use Power to create change rather than letting is control you.

The fourth point is Self.  Self is Tipherah, Beauty, which is balance.  Self is the balance of Passion and Power.  All three Sephiroth of each Pillar connect back to Tipherah.  This shows the balance between these two pillars.  Da'ath, Knowing, is also involved in Self.  Self is about knowing the Self, understanding our Passion, our Power, and being the controlling force in both of them.

The fifth point is Pride.  Pride is Kether, the Crown.  It is the Divine Spark, which is the essense of the Godself.  Pride flows out of Self.  Pride is the fullness of the Iron Pentacle.

Kether becomes Malkuth in the world above, bringing us back to Sex.

~Muninn's Kiss

If spending time in a place changes it and creates a soul, what happens when you pass through?  Travelling creates paths connecting places together, like the umbilical cord connecting a mother to a child.  The same five factors create these paths.
 
These paths are created within a space as well.  The soul of the place is really a collection of overlapping paths connecting different parts of the space.  As these paths overlap and build on each other, the space slowly fills with paths to the point where one can't be separated from another.  In a building, this process can be pretty quick.  In a larger space, like a city, it can take longer.  In old cities, areas can go to sleep and others might be pulsing with life.
 
A path is an interesting thing, because it is a route that a person or culture is more comfortable taking.  We tend to always take the same route.  For an individual, each time we pass the same way, we reinforce the path, making it easier to pass through it the next time.  We will keep coming back to it, taking the path of least resistance, which is the path we are building.  The same thing happens with groups.  Each person passing a certain way makes it easier for others to pass that way.
 
These paths result in what has been dubbed ley lines.  Ley lines are ancient paths connecting important locations.  They are most obvious in Europe, where the name was given to them.  Ley lines are paths that have been built over many generations.
 
Paths also build pathways in the mind.  We relate places together based on the routes we use to get from one area to another.  Our mind is amazing at keeping track of these paths.  I, specifically, think in pictures, and my mind is a giant map of all the paths I've travelled.  Walking builds the strongest paths in my mind (and the strongest path of presence).  Driving is a much more tentative path.  Flying leaves me completely disconnected from my last path.  When someone describes a path to me, it creates a minor path in my mind, weaker than driving, but stronger than flying.  This path might not be accurate, however.

The reason driving leaves a weaker path is that, first of all, you spend less time in the area.  When you drive, you pass objects and space rapidly, having less impact on them.  When you walk, you effect the objects and space a lot more, because you are close to them for longer time.

~Muninn's Kiss

I'd like to expand what I said about Art in my post concerning the Divine Mirror.

In that post, I discussed performing art verses visual art.  I think i need to explain this to a greater extent.  First of all, all of this only applies to art done with Kavanah.  Without Kavanah, without intention in the art, it's not art.  Art is taking Kavanah and making it manifest.

Performing arts are unique in their unity.  Dance is the combination of movement and stillness.  It isn't one or the other, or really even one and the other.  It's both at together, as one.  Same thing with music.  It's both quiet and sound together, as one.  In the Supernal World, there is no separation.  Opposites exist together, in a way that we can't understand.  Music and dance come the closest to showing this in this world of Fallen Images.

Visual art is harder.  Just having Kavanah doesn't mean you are redeeming the images, because you are starting from a Fallen Image, whether in your head or before your eyes.  Only images coming from visions or dreams from the Divine aren't Fallen, and our ability to warp even these leaves the possibility of creating a Fallen Image pretty great.  If we take the Images we receive and interpret them using our understanding, we bring them down and make them Fallen.  But if we look beyond our understanding, and reach to the True Image and create that Image, uninterpreted, we bring the viewer of the art up to the higher realms, helping to redeem their Fallen Image.  Not that this is easy.

Each of use contains a Divine Spark.  This is our Yechidah, the highest part of the Neshamah, our higher soul.  This start corresponds to Kether, the Crown, and is our crown.  This Spark comes from the Shattering of the Vessels I have talked about before.  These Sparks are what's left of the Light of the Divine within us, and longs to return.  As our Image is redeemed, this Spark connects with the Divine, and fills our other souls with the Light of the Divine.  This Light allows us to look beyond the Fallen and Broken Images around us into the True Images they reflect.  This allows True Art to be created, which will show those with just the Spark that there is Truth beyond the Images they see.  This might not redeem the Spark, but it adds to the hunger for that redeption, which is necessary for the Spark in them, and their Fallen Image to be redeemed.

~Muninn's Kiss

Looking at Erynn Rowan Laurie's translation of the Cauldron of Poesy, we find three Cauldrons discussed.  The first is the Cauldron of Warming, which is born upright within us.  The second is the Cauldron of Motion, which is born on its side, because it gets stronger when it is turned.  The third is the Cauldron of Wisdom, which is born on its lips, upside down.

The Cauldron of Warming is where the Wisdom found in youth comes from.  We all start out with it.

The Cauldron of Motion is harder to obtain.  In artless people, people born without the root of poetry, it is on its lips, so is hard to turn.  On people with bardcraft or small poetic talent, it is on its side as we discussed above.  It is easier to turn, but still takes effort to turn it.  Great poets are born with the Cauldron of Motion upright, already giving them Wisdom.  How is it turned?  By great joy or sorrow.  For sorrow, longing, grief, sorrows of jealousy, and discipline of pilgrimage to holy places turns it.  Divine joy and human joy also turn it.

The Cauldron of Wisdom is where all art and poetry comes from.

Reading the translation, I think the three are the same, but appear differently.  They are all aspects of the same Cauldron.  Each is a different depth from which to draw, if that makes sense.


The name "Roaring Cauldron" makes for a great parallel between the Wells of the Norns and the Cauldrons of Poesy.  What is a well but a fixed Cauldron?

The Roaring Cauldron is constantly in motion, violent motion.  This corresponds to the Cauldron of Motion.

Mimir's Well, which is a well of Wisdom, is obviously the Cauldron of Wisdom.

Which leaves Urth's Well as the Cauldron of Warming.  Since warming is an increase over time in temperature, and Urth, which is Wyrd, is a layering of choices over time, there is a correlation.

It is easy to see the relationship between the Cauldrons and the Wells.


The Hebrew Tree of Life contains three Mothers, corresponding to the letters Shin, Aleph, and Mem.  These relate to Fire, Air, and Water, respectively.  Shin, Fire, connects Chokmah, Wisdom, to Binah, Understanding.  It is an easy connection to see this as the Cauldron of Wisdom, Mimir's Well.  But what of the other two?  Mem is the Great Sea in the World of Forms, always moving.  Does this sound like the Cauldron of Motion and the Roaring Cauldron?  I think so.  Which leave Aleph as the Cauldron of Warming, Urth's Well.  Does this fit?  Air, when warmed, rises.  This is why Shin is above and Mem below.  Mem, Water, condensed, and Shin, Fire, rose.  Leaving Aleph, Air between them.  Aleph is still warming.  Air, also, is the Wind, on which memories are renewed.  The Wind speaks the mysteries that came before.  Likewise, Wyrd is the layers of what came before.  Wisdom found in youth comes from others' experiences, either through example or a cultural memory.  Aleph is the Cauldron of Warming.


I talked of three wells in Israel:  Jacob's Well, Miriam's Well, and Hezekiah's Tunnel.  We can relate these to the Wells of the Norns.  Miriam we've connected to Mimir's Well before.  The spring from which Hezekiah's Tunnel got its water gushes forth.  This sounds like the Roaring Cauldron to me.  Jacob's Well represents several generations each uncovering and using the wells of their father.  This is easily seen in relation to Aleph, Wyrd, and Warming, as discussed above.  Jacob's Well is Urth's Well.  As such, each of these three wells relate back to the three Cauldrons.


I related before the three Feri Cauldrons to the three Mothers of Kabbalah.  The Vivi is the Cauldron of the Pelvis, which is the Iron Pentacle (I showed the Pentacle to be the Cup and the Cauldron), and Mem, hence the Cauldron of Motion.  The Emi is the Cauldron of the Ribcage, which is the Pearl Pentacle, and Aleph, hence the Cauldron of Warming.  The Ori is the Cauldron of the Skull, which is the Blessed Pentacle, and Shin, hence the Cauldron of Wisdom.

~Muninn's Kiss

Which soul is Damam found in?

The Nephesh, the animal soul, can be seen as our id, or our subconscious.  It is rapped in emotions, and constantly wanting, constantly moving us.  This is not Damam.

The Ruach is the soul we are most familiar with.  If Damam was found here, it would be easy to find, for our lives as we see them take place in this soul.  No, Damam is not here.

This leaves the Neshimah, the upper soul.  It is here that we find Shiflut, Kavanah, and Damam.  But this soul is in three parts:  Neshimah, Chiah, and Yechidah.  Damam is above the level of Neshimah, for Neshimah interacts with the Ruach, so can't be still.  It is Shiflut, the lowest of the Divine parts of the soul.  Chiah is Will, Kavanah, and is energy.  It flows from the Yechidah to the Neshimah, so is also in motion.  Only the Yechidah, the Divine Spark, is Still;  Only Yechidah is Damam.



Which world is Damam found in?

Assiah, the World of Action, is the spiritual world corresponding to our physical world.  It is the true world behind the illusion we create.  Action brings movement.  There is no Stillness, no Damam in Assiah.

Yetzurah, the World of Forms, is the Divine Chariot, always in motion, and the Sea of Mem, always in flux.  Yetzurah is not Damam.

Briah, the World of Creation, is a world of opposites.  Light separates from Darkness.  Male separates from Female.  This separation is motion, in not Damam.

Only in Atziluth do we find Damam.  It is in the unity, the lack of separation, that Damam is found.  The Light fills all of Atziluth.  It emanates down, moving through the lower worlds, but here it is Still.


Where do we find Damam on the Tree of Life?

Malkuth is Assiah, and our world.  There is no Stillness in the Kingdom.

Yesod, Foundation, sounds Still at first.  It is not.  It is the channel from the upper Sephiroth to Malkuth below.  In Yesod, everything flows downward.  It is a great maelstrom, funneling the water of Yetzurah to Assiah below.

Hod, Glory, always moves forward to embrace obstacles, moving on the face of Mem.  Netzach, Victory, also moves on Mem, moving forward to conquer.

Tipherah, Beauty, is closer to Stillness.  But it is Geburah, Judgement, and Chesed, Mercy in equal measures, each moving forward to give or take.

Binah, Understanding, searches out answers, once more in motion.  Chokmah, Wisdom, constantly stirs thoughts into emotions, emotions into ideas, ideas into Wisdom.

Only in Kether, the Crown, is there Stillness, Damam.  A Crown sits on the head, not moving.  Kether is Techidah, the highest soul, and the source of Atziluth, the World of Emanations.  Kether is the Endless Light (Ain Soph Ohr), not moving, the Endlessness (Ain Soph), empty and Still, and the Nothing (Ain), where movement can't exist.

~Muninn's Kiss