The Awakened Magician: What Happens When Non-Ordinary Becomes Ordinary?

26May
by Lori Ann Lothian

I’ve been hiding something from my readers. A dirty little enlightenment secret.

It’s the kind of cover-up that happens when you think you might be crazy to voice something that no one else in the non-duality, awakening to Self/No Self crowd talks about.

You think: Maybe I’m an anomaly? Or you wonder: Did I get caught up in one of those sidetracks the Sages of Old warn about, that admonition to “not get seduced by the siddhis.”

In case your Sanskrit is rusty, we turn to Wikipedia for this handy definition: “Spiritual, paranormal, supernatural, or otherwise magical powers, abilities, and attainments that are the products of spiritual advancement through sadhana (spiritual practices), such as meditation and yoga.”

To be clear, I’ve always had the gift of foresight. It started when I was a teenager as nocturnal dreams that later came to pass as real life events. By my early thirties, I took a break from journalism and crafted a nine year career as a highly accurate, sought-after professional clairvoyant. So my caveat is this—the non-ordinary is not unusual for me.

What is unusual these days is the magnitude and range of what I can only call rampant magic. Sometimes, I feel like I’ve stepped into a sci-fantasy novel where there are new paranormal rules of engagement and I seem to be cast in the role of a dazed and somewhat suspicious wizard. And oddly, it’s not just me…..those around are reporting a dramatic uptick in synchronicity, high strangeness and non-ordinary perception.

This surge of the magical in my life, and the lives of those close to me, is not without meaning and nor is it something to be hidden or avoided. My heart tells me that this acceleration in non-ordinary perception and ability is what happens when consciousness resides in the non-local realm–awakening tends to do that to you. It blasts through the contracted localized version of self (call it Ego or the “I”) and expands consciousness to awareness of what quantum physicist Amit Goswami calls the Quantum Self.

That’s the real magician—non-local consciousness IS the proverbial fairy godmother.

And more and more people are discovering that awakening is not just about the end of suffering and abiding in a kind of static peace and equanimity. It’s also about the exciting stirrings of the reality-bending capacities of human potential. Jesus did not walk on water, heal the sick, raise the dead, and multiply loaves and fish as a circus stunts–he was pointing at what happens when the Quantum Self is realized. (You might check out my Bending the Reality Spoon article from 2012, touching on the miracles thing).

I’m going to be exploring this “magic” theme in greater depth over the next few blog posts, but for now I will sign off with this stunning excerpt from Boy’s Life, an award-winning novel by Robert McCammon. When I first read it, I felt my heart flutter with recognition of something deeply true and hauntingly accurate.

 “You know, I do believe in magic. I was born and raised in a magic time, in a magic town, among magicians. Oh, most everybody else didn’t realize we lived in that web of magic, connected by silver filaments of chance and circumstance. But I knew it all along. When I was twelve years old, the world was my magic lantern, and by its green spirit glow I saw the past, the present and into the future. You probably did too; you just don’t recall it. See, this is my opinion: we all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God’s sake. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they’d allowed to wither in themselves.”

….The truth of life is that every year we get farther away from the essence that is born within us. We get shouldered with burdens, some of them good, some of them not so good. Things happen to us. Loved ones die. People get in wrecks and get crippled. People lose their way, for one reason or another. It’s not hard to do, in this world of crazy mazes. Life itself does its best to take that memory of magic away from us. You don’t know it’s happening until one day you feel you’ve lost something but you’re not sure what it is. It’s like smiling at a pretty girl and she calls you “sir.” It just happens.

These memories of who I was and where I lived are important to me. They make up a large part of who I’m going to be when my journey winds down. I need the memory of magic if I am ever going to conjure magic again. I need to know and remember, and I want to tell you.” 

In the  spirit of remembering the magic we are, Awareness is Here.

—–

Did you know I’ve started a weekly 3-minute video blog that arrives in your email each Monday morning? It’s free, fun and magical. Curious? Then subscribe here. 

 

PS: Did you know I’ve started a weekly 3-minute video blog? It’s free, fun and magical. Curious? Then subscribe here. 

26 thoughts on “The Awakened Magician: What Happens When Non-Ordinary Becomes Ordinary?”

  1. Pingback: Que se passe-t-il lorsque le non-ordinaire devient ordinaire? - Elishean 777

  2. matemoceguild

    A “Story” Of Awakening

    It’s 1952 or so, I’m 4 or 5 years old. I’m sitting on the floor, my friend Ritchie is sitting facing me. It seems in my memory, he is slightly lower than me.

    Richie is angry and he’s yelling. At me. Really angry, overcome with something. His actions coincide with a drop into deep awareness for me. I am watching him, silently. I am aware of Life as a continuous whole, where Love and Compassion are the main qualities. And I Am That. And so is everything.

    Then there is a question. How is it possible that there is the disturbance in the fabric of the continuo’s whole, of Reality? How is it possible that these two things are true? There is the always already nature of Life as Love and Compassion, and that it somehow coexists with this disturbance. And this question is deeply personal, as it draws on my developing understanding (seemingly now for the first time) that my life, my family is filled with the same disturbance.

    Years later, when recalling this event, I realize that my life would be dedicated to finding out that answer.

    But then my life unfolded. Growing up, getting married, the 60’s, drugs, music, politics, Transcendental Meditation. Teaching, Driving a Taxi-Cab, a business career, raising a family. Exploring different philosophies, losing God, finding God, losing God again.

    Fast forward to 1999. I’m sitting in my office, utterly depressed. From the outside, my life looks really all right. My career is progressing, my children are all teenagers and pretty okay. My marriage is, well just okay. We make are sort of fine, even admired, but, ah not quite right, somehow. My office is located in corporate headquarters and I expected I could make a difference. But it was all “politics”, all fear based. And no matter how much money I made, our debt kept rising.

    There was no real satisfaction. There was no real meaning. The future seemed more of the same. The road looked bleak. And I longed for meaning, for a real spiritual life, for community, for Real Wisdom.

    And the question from 1952 was always looming.

    Soon, an ordinary day, an ordinary life changed. I heard these words, in my head, spoken by who? “: Your marriage has ended.”

    And then I stopped having thoughts.

    I was thrust into a new consciousness, where only one thing existed. There was only the consideration of “Your marriage has ended.” It was as if there was a feeling, energetic, all inclusive fork in the road. On one side, I could feel the course of my life as it existed now and on the other side was something completely new and radical. It was a life of no compromise, only dedicated to Truth, to Reality, to real meaning, to God. There was a feeling of rightness, of inevitability.

    But that choice had awful consequences. I would have to be willing to lose everything. I would have to give up my career, my marriage, my children. I would have to give up being the good son, the good husband, the good dad. I would have to give up everything. And it was awful to contemplate. But in the end, after 24 hours of only this consideration, I chose a life of no compromise, of a life purposed deeply to Truth.

    The story of how that decision played out is not for these pages.

    In 2001, after much searching and bitter disappointment, having pretty much given up my search. I was invited to a gathering to hear about Adi Da Samraj. So, without expectations, just feeling, “oh well, I’ve been around the block. I can probably help those guys.” I went.

    Good decision.

    A small living room with 5 other people. Two presenters, me, my friend and Adi Da on video. The presenters were shining, happy. And Adi Da, on video was Radiant, absolutely Happy!

    I watched the video, and right away, every cell in my body relaxed and lined up as one. Nothing fancy, just home. Utterly home.

    In 15 years since that day, more and more I know the answer to that question from 1952. And it has to do with Adi Da, and the nature of suffering and the only antidote—The Real Guru and devotion to that One, who is the very Self, the One and Only

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  3. Davidya

    Hi Lori
    Enjoyed the article. Looking forward to seeing how you unfold the topic. I wouldn’t call it a secret exactly. The local spiritual bookstore has over a dozen interpretations of the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, for example. But there is some drama around it, as other comments mention. And it should not be pursued directly. Rather it unfolds naturally as an effect of development.

    In the beginning of stuff showing up, it is a useful caution to avoid not getting caught by anything “special”. But when it arises naturally and is treated as a bit of curious fun or bonus, there is little danger. As we mature into the deeper values of being, it becomes a normal part of life.

    How it shows up depends a lot on preference (what we favour with attention) and our specific dharma. So what shows up will vary. It will also evolve in depth and breadth, far beyond any concept of possibility.

    But yeah, it can become odd to talk about aspects of your life with someone. It doesn’t make sense to peoples usual expectations. Stuff just happens, what you need just shows up, and life becomes an adventure of unfolding.

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  4. Jurgen

    Thank you Lori. I am very fond of your narratives and your sharing.

    I had a spontaneous and powerful experience over forty years ago as an art student in my early twenties. Tucking into a cheese sandwich and slurping strong coffee from a big mug in my ramshackle student digs, I lost my connection to my sandwich first, then to my hands holding it and then to my body. I then stood in a ball of light which made my bright summer day at the time appear like dark night by comparison. The experience lasted one hour but the state of dissociation from my body lasted two weeks together with a profound stillness and peace. Shortly after I found I was no longer alone and became aware of another aspect of consciousness which I referred to as my Silent Companion. I never had a teacher, but received mantras to use in my meditation. At the same time I began having out of body experiences during which I received further instructions. I tried to dismiss these OBEs as “Siddhis” but found they had their purpose. I finally relented and wrote a book some thirty five years later on the different dimensions of reality, when I found it was safe to “come out”. Until then I kept everything a secret.

    My number one priority though are the deep states meditation provides and the stillness connection to reality. OBEs still happen, sometimes lasting hours. I now often use them to carry on meditation leading to deep states of Samadhi. But it is the profound constant stillness, even in surrounding chaos and sickness, without any “special effects” or “experiences” which I cherish the most. Though like you I have also taken for granted the spontaneous uncalled for peaks, the way the pavement I walk on unrolls like a rich Persian carpet, the way the noise of the city is no longer white but a hymn and that the people I meet and talk to are mostly materialized angels.

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    1. Lori Ann Lothian

      “the way the pavement I walk on unrolls like a rich Persian carpet, the way the noise of the city is no longer white but a hymn and that the people I meet and talk to are mostly materialized angels.”

      Jurgen, plug your book please! I love your expression..so succulent. Direct me to it and I’d love to review it here and elsewhere….(is it in English?)…

      Yes, I am acutely aware of alternate reality (dimensions); I have had full OBE’s in this life (looking down at my sleeping form, travelling at will to places around the globe and in the etheric, being met by guides while OB, etc. Most of this before my awakening..but some after.

      What I cleave to as the ultimate truth, is as you say, the perfect (brilliant) stillness. But also, the dynamic is alive too, the aspect of Self that is a wandering artist with creation as the canvas. She is known my many Goddess names and forms, the many faces of shakti.

      Please get your book to me!

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      1. Jurgen

        Thank you for your generosity Lori. The book came about when my daughter saw my diaries and asked what they were about. When I told her they were my out of body experience she was curious and asked me if I could kindly type them out because she liked to read them but couldn’t read my handwriting. So I typed. I discovered once typed on line companies could print it in book format for a fiver, much better than having loose sheets, but they wanted a cover. Being a commercial illustrator I just made one. The main thing was to give it to my daughters which I did (I also secretly began to indulge in the fantasy and pleasure of having written a real book). Sadly my girls complained about my grammar so I had it edited. It found its way on Amazone because I had ticked the box completing the form. So here it is:
        http://www.amazon.com/Multidimensional-Man-Jurgen-Ziewe/dp/1409224252/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1J3EPQ4JZ7QDVSM8327T
        It may not have found its way out, but I am glad it did because since then I wrote another book about a solitary retreat in Scotland. My experience there was that I remembered that I had been “enlightened” all along but forgot. And, like in your case, I find it no longer possible to get away from the present, its stillness, which is there always. It’s impossible to put into words the everyday wonder and the magic you mentioned.

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  5. John Lamenzo

    Be very careful of the ‘siddhis’. They often arise to test the aspirant’s authentic Self. ‘Shaktipat’, if not used with discernment and discrimination, can cause problems for both the recipient and the giver. The ‘kundalini shakti’ will naturally and spontaneously awaken in an individual according to one’s karma and level of acceptance of the Divine.

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    1. Lori Ann Lothian

      Hi John:

      My experience is after a life of being clairvoyant I am not easily dazzled by non-ordinary perception or events. The kind of “magic” I am experiencing is more in line with what Wayne mentions in his comment, a kind of intimacy with the divine that is about superflow and ease, synchronicity and perfect timing. It’ s the superconductor version of reality…and it feels magical. My word for the enchantment of being an instrument through which the divine plays it’s music….

      As for shaktipat–I can’t say much. I have not experienced my own awakening via Igor’s transmission of shakti, though i did dream of being kissed on the third eye by a female guru before the shift happened and being told in the dream, “this is a full transmission.” So perhaps in a way, all awakenings are stirred by a transmission of grace, whether from a live being or one on the dream realms?

      What I see in shaktipat when it incites those around me to surges of emotional or physical kriyas is that it seems to accelerate or boost what is already under way in their nervous systems. Some students do not respond at all–and these are those that have yet to experience any stirrings of the kundalini. My sense is that a teacher who might activate a completely dormant kundalini would yes, be at risk of over-reaching.

      Thanks for reading!

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      1. John Lamenzo

        There is an ancient concept among adepts, both occult and esoteric, about (for lack of a better term) ‘psychic vampirism’. I have labeled it ‘guru possession’ and it relates directly to how ‘shaktipat’ has been used and abused for centuries. What often is at play is what has been described as ‘capturing the soul’. Many of us coming out of the 60s were pioneers in the exploration of Consciousness as Consciousness Itself, and naturally attracted to the mystical and mystics of all sorts, both East and West. In our youth many of us were ‘captured’ by phenomena created by ‘the teacher’ which simulated an experience of ‘the mystical’. What did we know then, we were like infants learning how to walk and talk and thus allowed ‘the teacher’ (often self-proclaimed) to literally ‘possess’ our ‘will’ and ‘soul’. In multiple scenarios, huge and extravagant organizations evolved with multiple lines of teachings, mantras, practices ad absurdum. In many of these cases, ‘the teacher’ often self-destructed, and usually in a public way. What was left behind were second, and now third generation, followers who have become ‘the teachers’, still marketing the same old distorted ‘spiritual’ bullshit. Therein lies the ‘hook’ of shaktipat and its serious potential to lock ‘souls’ in a never-ending trap of false reality. In Celtic shamanism, this is called ‘glamour’ (pronounced ‘gla-mour’), or ‘false light’. This topic is immense and complicated. It requires serious study, but more important, self-inquiry that is authentic, real, and stable. Simply walking away from an organization or a teacher who is mired in dark occult practices usually is not sufficient to release the hook or cord(s). What is required, quite frankly, is the ultimate ‘exorcism’ of the entity (the teacher) from one’s matrix. To be continued…maybe 🙂

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      2. Lori Ann Lothian

        Let’s take this discussion to skype. I hear you. There is on old school model of transmission of grace, however, that has merit. It’s the potential for abuse by personal will of the “teacher” that causes harm, not the shakti herself.

        This topic is a book, John, one you could write.

        Grateful for your thoughts and sharings.

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    2. Michael Jaksch

      Hi John!
      I wanted to reply to your second post but there was no reply button. That is very fascinating what you say and resonates with my own experiences and insights. Do you have some websites or reading material where this is discussed more deeply?

      best wishes
      Michael

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      1. John Lamenzo

        Michael,
        I have gleaned my personal cosmology over many years of study and practice. One of my most precious resources going back to 1970, were the writings of Sat Prem on The Mother of Pondicherry. The Mother’s life as detailed by Sat Prem in ‘Mother’s Agenda’, ‘Mother or The Divine Materialism’, ‘Mother or The New Species’, ‘Mother or The Mutation of Death’ contain a huge reservoir of esoteric knowledge.

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  6. Lori Ann Lothian

    Just when you posted this comment this morning I was discussing YOU with a fellow awakened type who is quite the revolutionary in the non-duality circles. I had just finished FB messaging him about you when I got a notice of new comment on the blog. THAT is what I mean by the new rampant magic afoot. It gets silly and super fun, this intimacy with God, doesn’t it?

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  8. Caro

    By coincidence I looked at two old Buddhist text today, the Vimuttimagga (https://archive.org/details/ArahantUpatossa-Vimuttimagga-PathOfFreedom.pdf) and the Visuddhimagga (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/PathofPurification2011.pdf). Both contain detailed descriptions of the supernormal powers that can be attained while in states of deep concentration meditation. Might be interesting for you to look at, as they suggest that these powers are anything but abnormal.

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  10. Winged One

    Welcome to 5D? Many channelers are receiving information that asserts we are now in the 5th Dimension and that the rules of reality are different here. The non-ordinary of 3D is the ordinary of 5D. So the “dramatic uptick in synchronicity, high strangeness and non-ordinary perception” may be the beginning of our awakening to the fact that we now have much vaster capabilities, as well as – the channeled material claims – the ability to interact with our many cosmic aspects, our various selves located in different dimensions as well as our aspects of self in different locations in space-time. And to hold conscious awareness of our lives in physical at the same time holding awareness of our other aspects of self occupying other realities. Boggling thoughts, aren’t they?

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  11. WayneWirs

    I call it the “Intimate quality” of the awakened state: the less there is of you, the more there is of the Divine. Ironically, Rick and I discussed it quite a bit this week on Buddha at the Gas Pump. It’s a shame more awakened individuals don’t put more focus on it (as you are) since it amounts to evidence of Divine Intelligence (God by any other name).

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    1. Lori Ann Lothian

      Just when you posted this comment this morning I was discussing YOU with a fellow awakened type who is quite the revolutionary in the non-duality circles. I had just finished FB messaging him about you when I got a notice of new comment on the blog. THAT is what I mean by the new rampant magic afoot. It gets silly and super fun, this intimacy with God, doesn’t it?

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