Product Description

"THE PATH is a veritable treasure trove of insight into the dynamic nature of human consciousness....Full of hope and of practical ways to overcome negative urges and influences. Well thought out and beautifully written. Outstanding and highly recommended reading!" Robert Bruce, Author of Astral Dynamics 'The Path' is a book about sorcery, recovery and 'The Matrix'. It is an entertaining guide to personal transformation offering fresh new insights into addiction and perception. It is the most unusual self-help book that you will ever read. The Path is a very realistic glimpse into the true meaning and purpose of a Sorcerer's journey. With breathtaking visualization and a deep level of understanding, Arana exposes the reader to the discipline of a Sorcery apprenticeship. Thunder Strikes, Twisted Hair Nagual Elder, Author of Song of the Deer "THE PATH is certainly a very practical, yet new vehicle in which to reach a higher knowledge".--ForeWord Reviews.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #305931 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 184 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780974519807
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"...a courageous account of personal evolution on a Path of Heart and a new dream for the world." -- Patricia Mercier, Author of 'The Chakras'

"delineated with intriguing clarity and perception...a practical yet new vehicle in which to reach higher knowledge and realize transcendence" -- ForeWord Reviews.com

A practical approach to sorcery with story, strategies and exercises. Those interested in sorcery will add it to their collections. -- Writer's Showcase Editorial Board

Esmeralda Arana picks up where Carlos Castaneda leaves off. A must read for all serious students of shamanism and sorcery -- Alberto Villoldo PhD, author of Shaman, Healer, Sage

‘The Path' guides us to a new plateau in shamanic shapeshifting and opens our hearts to limitless possibilities! -- John Perkins, Author of 'Shapeshifting'

From the Publisher
Written with grace and punctuated with humor, THE PATH reveals fascinating parallels between Twelve-Step program philosophy, Gurdjieff's concept of man's hypnotic sleep, Robert Monroe's out-of-body experiences and the path of the Toltec warrior as described by New Age phenomenon Carlos Castañeda.

Esmeralda Arana illustrates how your modern-day person with a busy lifestyle can walk the Warrior's path and lead a life of balance and serenity. By giving an extensive account of her experiences with lucid dreaming, she also provides instruction on how to expand one's perceptual horizons and develop latent psychic abilities. Arana teaches us how to alter perception of the self in order to transform into a spiritually evolved person and overcome common problems such as addiction, depression and obesity. She shows us how, through understanding the nature of perception, we can all control and mold our personal realities and free the mind from negative influences. Arana emphasizes that diet and physical exercise are important and often neglected components of a solid spiritual foundation and urges the reader to explore activities such as yoga and the internal forms of the martial arts. This is an invaluble guide for anyone reaching for higher spiritual truths.

From the Author
Carlos Castaneda’s books describe a set of teachings that lead to the awakening of a staggering set of perceptual abilities lying dormant in each of us. These abilities include, but are not limited to clairvoyance, telepathy and telekinesis and are referred to in Yogic literature as the Siddhis. All esoteric paths including the Warrior’s Way (Castaneda), the Fourth Way (GI Gurdjieff), Theosophy (Rudolf Steiner, HP Blavatsky) and those of the Taoist, the Sufi and the Yogin, converge upon knowledge of and activation of the chakra system. All of these paths include a philosophical side and a "doing" side. The philosophy results in a vanquishing of the "false mind" or the negative side of the ego. The "doing" side results in the energizing of the chakra system with a concomitant development of the Siddhis. It is the "doing" side of all of these paths that provides one with the ability to have direct experience of suprasensible realms. It is direct experience that leads to true knowledge. The philosophy without the "doing" results in belief systems alone. Lucid dreaming is part of the "doing" side of the Warrior’s Way, while Yoga exercises are part of the "doing" side of the Yogin’s path.

Most people find the esoteric literature difficult to grasp and impossible to apply practically. My aim is to present a simple and straightforward path that your modern person with a busy lifestyle can understand and practice with ease. I provide a bit of philosophy and a bit of "doing".It is my direct experience that following this path results in a life of peace, serenity, balance and most of all, true magic.

Customer Reviews

good stuff, spiderwoman
This is an interesting and useful book describing growth and unfolding of a self-taught "sorceress". Arana, armed with books by Castaneda, Monroe and Gurdjieff embarks on a path of discovering the energy body and the rules that govern the many worlds accessible by the conscious mind. To get there, she has learnt to free her mind of the grips of perceptual certainty, to follow her Intent and to practice relentlessly. For me, Arana's descriptions of her experiences form the most useful part of the book. I actually find the book to be more helpful (and trustworthy) than those written by Castaneda. At the very least, A's book may turn out to be an indispensable companion to C's opus.

Arana brings us remarkably lucid analyses of working with Intent, with the Elemental Force (God) and brings forth an excellent case for the "sorcerer's" need to establish a working meditation practice. She also provides good descriptions of how to work with the assemblage point ... for intrepid afficionados of the netherworld of different states/dimensions of consciousness and those interested in meetings its colorful denizens she provides useful pointers on lucid dreaming (for better or worse).

The most unfortunate part of this book is probably its title. There is little, if anything, of real "sorcery" in the book. On the contrary, Esmeralda is interested in attaining that ultimate goal - freedom. Her book provides an honest, valiant and useful tool for anyone who shares her goals. I recommend it.

Incredible book!
I expect to see many negative reviews of this book "The Path: A Practical approach to Sorcery"; because many people will read the title, and incorrectly assume this book is full of spells, incantations, and curses. Well those people simply do not understand what magick (or sorcery in Ms. Arana's nomenclature) is all about.

Many people think magick is chanting an incantation and a $100 bill falls to the ground in front of you. Most people have the similar misconception of what Alchemy was about (transmuting base metals like brass and lead into gold); that was only a tiny part of what alchemy was about. True alchemy was about transmuting (purifying) the soul in order to escape the cycle of reincarnations.

Now with that out of the way; this book is a wonderful essay of one woman's long pilgrimage from darkness into the light, and I recommend it to you HIGHLY!

One part of this book disturbs me greatly. Ms. Arana repeatedly talks of one of her mentors (the books of Carlos Castaneda). On page 119 Ms. Arana states "Those people who thought that his books were about the use of psychotropic drugs missed the boat entirely." I read many of Dr. Castaneda's books, and freely admit that I missed the boat.

I am NOT in favor of people taking psychotropic drugs at all. The drugs WILL allow you to perceive and interact with other realms; but you will lose any control over the experience, and I can tell you from first hand experience that not all of those beings are sweetness and light!

This book is NOT a complete path to mastery; but will greatly assist you in taking your first stumbling steps towards mastery. I am fond of saying "The more one works toward self mastery; the more inner work s/he sees that needs to be done" Two Bears.

Please be patient while I point out a few things in the book.

Page 2. "I began to have lucid dreams or what people commonly refer to as out of body experiences." Lucid dreamimg is not a full out of body experience where the astral body seperates from the physical body. According to Stephen LaBerg (the man that coined that coined the term "Lucid dreaming" if memory serves.) states that lucid dreaming is one of many gateways to out of body experiences.

Page 3. "I do not pretend to be a guru of any sort." I could NOT agree more! There are NO shortcuts to self mastery. You MUST do the HARD work yourself. So prepare to do a lot of internal work!

Page 28. "I have asked the Elemental Force to help to help mr change something about myself," Just in order for you to understand her nomenclature; this energy has been called by countless names (Akasha, Ch'i, Itaki, Ki, Mana, Nuwati, Prana, etc.)

Page 34. "If one stops the internal dialogue, one "stops the world"." It is VERY important to visit the silence; because in the silence you can re-program what is allowed to pass through your filter, then release negative emotions such as anger, hatred, bigotry, tendencies to commit violence, etc. I can verify this from first hand experience.

Page 49. "During REM sleep, the body protects itself by paralyzing the voluntary muscles so that when you dream, you don't start acting out what is occuring in your dream and injure yourself." Ms. Arana is one of the very few people to correctly identify the purpose of sleep paralysis.

Page 71. "First imagine that the mind is like the hard drive of a computer; a hard drive with a massive but finite capacity." This statement is in error. The mind is infinite. It contains all of the information of the current lifetime and all previous lifetimes (The brain is not the mind. The brain is only the operating system to access the mind.). A person that refuses to accept the notion of other realms will stop experiencing them, a person that has tendencies to hold grudges, commit violence, etc; over time will build walls that limit their their potential to experience other acts such as mercy, forgiveness. love tolerance, etc; This in no way means the hard drive is full (You are only tearing down self imposed walls). By going into the silence and reprogramming what our filters will allow to come into our perception; we can change internaly that begins to change our physical reality. The occultists had it right in the statement "As above, so below; as within so without."

Page 85. "I have never seen anything in my lucid dream resembling the "predator" or the "sucker"." I must disagree (one of the few page numbers I forgot). Ms. Arana talks of the predators or gardners that strips away energy from the human beings energy body and uses it as food for them. On another page she relates the story while in a hypnogogic state that she saw a huge black spider that came through the wall that terified her, and she willed herself to wake up, knowing it wasn't real.

It was real. The predator is a shape shifter (based on my experience) that starts out as black spiders and snakes, etc to instill fear, then shapeshift into more hideous creatures. The more fear, terror, feeling of hopelessness, worthlessness, depression, suicidal thoughts, etc you emit; the more tasty your energy is to them. (I warned you earlier that not all entities were sweetness and light!"

To free yourself of the predators (in my opinion) is that when you encounter them to control your emotions and emit unconditional love, and other positive emotions. This will raise the vibration of your energy body, and sour the milk (so to speak) so your energy is not acceptable to them.

Please E-Mail if you have questions or comments; Two Bears.

Wah doh Ogedoda (we give thanks Great Spirit)

Fresh New Insights Into Sorcery, Addiction & Perception
Esmeralda Arana's educational and entertaining book, THE PATH, is packed with amazing revelations about the similarities between the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Twelve Step Program, Carlos Castaneda's Warrior's Way, Robert Monroe's Out of Body Experiences (OBEs), and Gurdjieff's concept of hypnotic sleep.

What do recovering alcoholics have in common with sorcerers? According to Arana, quite a lot. The key to transforming your life is in transforming your perception of reality -- and it is essential to request assistance from both the elemental force (also known as God, or Spirit) as well as a human support group -- and then to start acting in accordance with the behavior appropriate to your new place of perception. You can change channels in your life from one reality to another just like changing channels on TV, by tuning in to a different perceptual station with sufficient energy and intent.

Arana clearly elucidates the striking similarities between AA's 12 step program and Toltec sorcery techniques taught by Carlos Castaneda by sharing intimate revelations about her own experiences with overcoming alcoholism. Arana also describes her fascinating experiences with lucid dreaming as she describes how difficult it could be at times to detach her energetic "double" from her physical body, and some of the side-effects of lucid dreaming (such as hearing voices, and knowing intimate and seemingly unknowable details about others).

I highly recommend this book for its excellent down-to-Earth writing, original ideas, and fascinating insights into how you can make small shifts in perception in order to make big changes in your life. THE PATH is an intensely practical and transformative book which I'm sure I will still be thinking about months and years later, telling all my friends about at every opportunity!