Magical Almanac – November 2013
Bob Makransky’s occasional blog of astrology and magic
Memorable Events
In The Active Side of Infinity Carlos Castaneda described how his teacher don Juan had him make a list of memorable events in his life as an important tool (or better said: map) for spiritual growth. By “memorable events” is meant those poignant moments when the Spirit intervened directly in your life to show you a lesson – you were a witness, and what you saw illuminated your path from then on. Only rarely are these memorable events about you (involve you as the principle figure). As don Juan said, “The stories of a warrior’s album are not personal … about you as the center of everything. … The memorable events we are after have the dark touch of the impersonal. That touch permeates them.” While what most people consider the signal events in their lives are part of what W.B. Yeats termed Will, the true memorable events originate in Faculties higher than Will – and they imperceptibly color and shape your subsequent life in undefinable ways forevermore.
The memorable events are to be recapitulated; but the primary purpose of making the list is to provide a different touchstone – an alternative inventory of events which define who you think you are – than your usual inner dialogue of the occasions which plumped up your self-importance (your image of yourself as triumphant or a victim). Those happenings – your self-exculpating memories of the moments of your greatest glory and greatest shame – merely exacerbate your customary moods of self-pity. What’s bringing you down in life is not stuff that’s going on outside of you / happening to you; rather, the stuff that is happening to you is being drawn to you by your customary moods. The constant repetition in your mind of thought forms which arise from (and reflect back) your self-importance in an endless, squirrel-on-a-treadmill loop – the constant saga of YOU – must be replaced by a catalogue of wholly impersonal memorable events in order to dethrone the importance of your wonted customary moods of heaviness, and feel light and joyous instead.
As Castaneda put it (quoted in Armando Torres’ Encounters With the Nagual):
“‘One of the tasks of sorcerers is to constantly analyze the insinuations of the spirit. For this purpose, they often use a book of memorable events, a map of those occasions when the spirit intervened in their lives, forcing them to make decisions – voluntarily or involuntarily.’ He explained that the advantage of this technique is that when we write, we detach ourselves from things and events, at least to a minimal extent, and thus we are able to focus on them with more objectivity. ‘It is not about describing our daily routines, but of being attentive to the strange moments when intent is manifested. Those are magical junctures, because they produce changes and they put us face to face with the meaning of existence.’ ... ‘Although signs of the spirit are a personal matter, there are ordinary events that in general mark people’s life, like being born, choosing a career, intertwining your destiny with another person, or having children. Also illnesses and serious accidents, because they establish a nexus with death. For those who have the fortune of finding a conduit of spirit in the shape of a nagual, this is, certainly, the most memorable event of all. The interventions of intent are precursors, very significant memories for a warrior, and they can be used as reference points of where to start when one is exploring episodes of personal history. It requires speed and clarity to select them and to synthesize them, extracting the personal stuff and leaving the magical essence. When properly done, they become what the new seers call abstract centers of perception, a matrix of intent, which a warrior has the duty of deciphering.’”
Most of the book The Active Side of Infinity contains memorable events from Castaneda’s life, particularly those involving people whose acquaintance changed him. When I began compiling a list of the memorable events in my own life, my guides were helping me select and reject which events to include. I am giving a part of my list here – with my guides’ comments in italics – as an example to show what sorts of events should be included; and which rejected.
The Meadowbrook railroad station when I turned my back and walked away from the kids who were teasing me (i.e. I learned that tactic, which I eventually applied to other oppressors, and society)? Yes.
My nervous breakdown at age 20? No, that’s about you. Your altered states aren’t the point, whether drug induced or Cave induced or “natural”.
My mother storming into my room in the mental hospital (after my nervous breakdown) and berating me for embarrassing her before her friends at the country club? (This was the moment when I dropped out of society forevermore – I saw that there was no love in that world, so there was nothing there I wanted)? Yes.
The diethyltryptamine trip with Janet (whom I had met the previous day, and who I eventually wound up living with for a year. This trip really screwed me up by becoming the basic thought form expectation that I tried to apply to every woman I met afterwards)? Definitely!
Jackie reading to me from a book by Daisetz Suzuki while I was tripping on mescaline?DEFINITELY! The main turning point of your life! (Yes, it was – that was the day I entered the spiritual path).
Christine’s backward glance at me walking down the street? No, you didn’t learn anything from that – didn’t apply it as a lesson in your life.
The night facing the mob in Papa? Getting the Appollonian dorm at college? No, those were about YOU. Memorable dates are not about YOU, but rather you witnessed them or were there as a witness ... it’s NOT about your triumphs and defeats
The animalito who visited me every day when I was living in the shack in the Colombian jungle (some sort of mammal – never found out what it was). Yes!! What did that change? Meditate on it and you’ll understand. What I get is that it came there to die – the warmth of the fireplace. It must have been “tamed” by Hugh’s people previously, so it wasn’t afraid of humans. But I still don’t get why its coming there to die was a lesson for me. You’d have to remember what you were going through at that time – why you “fled” to Colombia in the first place, for one thing.
The mushroom trip with Eugenio in Carcha (which led to my finding the town where I live now)? Being possessed by the 9 Mayan gods at Tikal ? No, it’s not so much ABOUT YOU ... but rather what you witnessed (and learned from). Like, the scene with your mother in the mental hospital was about her, not you; but you definitely drew conclusions and acted on those conclusions (that you didn’t want any part of her or the life she had planned for you).
Chem & Co. beating me up & me reaching the Place of No Pity? No – that’s not what we’re getting at.
The party at Manuela’s in San Pedro (I described this party in both What is Magic? and The Great Wheel. If you haven’t read these books, suffice it to say that it was a pretty intense party)? DEFINITELY!!
The talk with Manuela when she was pregnant with Mia and “knew” she was going to die (she was uncommonly depressed that day; she died giving birth 6 months later, and then I understood why she had been depressed)? Yes. Don Abel predicting his own death the day of the ceremony? Yes – in these instances you saw how other people react when they know (consciously or unconsciously) that they will die.
The whole Rebeca – Marie Anne episode (I was madly in love with R, even though I saw that she was a vampire; and suddenly my present girlfriend popped up and grabbed me and, I see now, saved me from making a major blunder)? That was definitely an intervention of the spirit.Yes
Seeing the 3 omens of death of Alicia on our return from the Cave? No – just your seeing someone else’s lesson isn’t necessarily a memorable event. It has to somehow change your life or perspective, or illuminate a path, or point a direction for you. The omen of the 3 yakkers? No – nor all the predictions don Abel (or Flora Urquhart) made for you. But the grope in the dark to find the Cross & Peter’s vomiting at the ceremony with don Hermelindo & Hector WAS a memorable event. I understood that it was an omen at the time, but still don’t know what it meant (except that don Hermelindo is NOT for me – which I understood from other things he did). No, that omen had nothing to do with don Hermelindo. That I’m finished with Mayan shamanism? More like that. And seeing don Hermelindo’s greed. Also that’s it’s not up to you to pick your teachers.
It’s not so much stuff like the bullies at Meadowbrook station, or your mother in the mental hospital, or all your women. Those are incidents in which yes, other people’s actions forced you to make a major life decision; but they are not touched with the abstract, like the appearance of the animalito in Colombia ; or the party at Manuela’s. They are too personal, whereas memorable events should be impersonal, but affected you deeply (usually in such a way that you can’t explain why).
I kind of get what you’re driving at, but I have very few memories (at least, that I can recall at this time) in which I was touched by the Spirit, but which weren’t altered states of consciousness induced by drugs, or the Cave, or spirits. There were more, lots and lots more. You’ll find them in recapitulation, like you found that memory of your “imaginary” friend with the pickup truck (described in The Great Wheel). Your memory is blocked because so much of your life has been painful & you’re trying to forget it. But when you leave here you’ll start doing recapitulations big time, & bring it all back. Then you’ll find your memorable events.
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About the author: Bob Makransky is a systems analyst, computer programmer and professional astrologer. For 37 years he has lived on a farm in highland Guatemala where he is a Mayan priest and is head of the local blueberry growers’ association. Check out his free downloadable Mayan Horoscope software, free downloadable Planetary Hours calculator, free downloadable Primary Directions / celestial sphere mathematics textbook, complete instructions on how to channel by automatic writing and how to run past life regressions, articles, books, stories, cartoons, etc. etc. at www.dearbrutus.com
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