ZamaleK: A small Island on the River Nile. Cairo, Egypt.Few hours to Sunrise, Some Thirty five years ago.
Dream Re-Entry as one of the fundamentals of Setting Up Dreaming.
I was standing by the door as I heard my Sponsor (المرشد) back then speaking Five Words of power. He spoke them to another person in the room while knowing that I am in my dreaming double (المثال) behind the somewhat open door. Me, also knowing that I am in Dreaming and in his presence receiving those Words was quite a feat for me at the time: The assemblage of attention on the Left-side of the Dreaming Membrane, The solidification of its astral loci to that of a physical space, the interaction with another consciously in Dreaming, and the partaking in Inorganic Energy transmission.
I got overexcited with what i am accomplishing and I yelled out to my Mother, whom had a major influence on my Sufic training and Dreaming development, “Mom I am Receiving Knowledge in Dreaming”. (ماما، انا بتلقى العلم في الحلم) by doing so I snapped myself back to my first attention and could hear the phone ringing in my moms bedroom while I am tossing in bed reciting (الخمس العظام) the Power Words as few of them slip away.
It was Sheikh Ma’Yergy on the phone, a pretty famous Sheikh at the time before the whole Islamist fundamentalism thing took root; they were but murmur of noise not enough to distort the tides of tradition with some laughable perceived philosophical convections, as a matter of fact, no one though they will take root.
My mom didn’t like the man, due to a some of his views on Cosmogony and Epistemology leaning more towards orthodoxy, the thing which decades later would leave him in a murky place. There is also a whole social cast system issue that i strongly believe have influenced her opinion of the man.
I heard her asking him to hang up saying she will wake me up to call him back. Something she always does so she can go back to sleep and ignore his calls before the observance of the First of the Five Gates of Power Al Fa’Jehr (الفجر), which roughly falls during the witching hour.
There is a Solitary ritual that is set up during that time every night prior to Fa’Jehr (الفجر) and its uninterrupted observance for at least 365 nights is essential work to the stage I was at, and its not uncommon for Sheikhs to wake up their seekers and push for adherence to oaths taken.
I ran to the phone and took it from her before she hangs up.
“Al Salam Alykoum” I greeted him with peace.
“Wa Alykoum Al Salam” he returned the greeting, then immediately asked me to recite the words I just heard on the Left-side”.
I tried and could only remember 3, I told him how I focused my First Attention on the first three and though i had the other two held firmly by my Second Attention, only to lose track of them by my overexcitement.
Concerned he said “How come, I was positive you are ready” and asked if i had been following the five gates around the day and night faithfully or if I have missed a gate, then told me to get ready for Fa’Jehr (الفجر) Prayers and to meet him at the Masque.
It was an hour still to the first calling and the Masque we usually meet at was less than 10 minutes walking from my family’s flat. Knowing I don't have much time, i went back to bed with the intention to reenter Dreaming and had to quickly reassemble my Second Attention to the exact point of Assemblage to be able to re enter the Dreaming and bridge the missing Words to my First Attention.
I promptly laid back in the exact sleeping posture I was practicing. I felt the warmth of my Dreaming Body still curled to my Left-side and slipped back in to it as easy as I snapped out.
my second attention was fast to assemble the dream i slipped out of. this in the dream, signifies a sorceric maneuver not only of assembling attention on the other side of the membrane but also to an exact loci of assemblage.
Mastering a few Dreaming/Sleeping postures is helpful in that regard. If you know what you are doing you always have the same venture assemblage as a starting point; and if you use a Sufi Shawl, which traps Dreaming Energy, to keep the dreaming spot warm, you can connect with the Dreaming Body faster by laying your physical body exactly where the dreaming assemblage is and then let your left side pull you, its important not to try and reenter by means of pushing yourself in with your Right-side or you start from a different loci. more on this later.
I made sure to stay detached in observance Al Sha’heed (الشهيد) is a state of Sha’heed (الشهيد) using perception itself as the observant not the i, this is called the Eye (ع) perception in contrast to the (i), present but detached
Aware of the time paradox of hours in Dreaming passing like seconds in waking life.Once back in the same Dreaming I took my time with the words Seeing them and Knowing them. then i turned my Attention to the Right-side leaving the Dreaming world coming down to this reality. One has to make no mistakes, some people have lost the power to enter Dreaming for mistakes they made coming down. if one is not careful then every thing they gathered will be carried away on the Ships of forgetfulness (مراكب النسيان) sailing the water membrane between the worlds.
I managed well this time. Back in my first attention i jotted down the power words (الخمس العظام) in my KashKoul () kind of a magical diary workbook, that a seeker and a sponsor visit regularly.
Later at the mosque, after Fa’Jehr prayers I meet with Al Ma’Yergy, we shook hands and kissed (traditional greeting in that part of the world) I told him right away what happened and that I got the Great Five words of Power.
He asked me to recite them and when he was satisfied we sat down by a large white marble column and took a thorough inventory of the event. And accordingly rearranged (redialed) my Kashkoul to more accurately reflect the forces its given for.
There was a faint coldness of indifferent infinity that started to seep in, a sense of Nothingness to my then secure view of the cosmos. I was sheltered by many things at the time and thought the Five Great Words were all that was and I didn’t know that this Knowledge is diverting away from spiritual security, My Sheikh knew that and had pity on what I was getting myself into. To him it was like seeing a kid lose their false sense of security which gave them their innocence. It wasn’t cruel of him to wake me up from that false construct of Religion and the accepted narratives of history and civilization, and even the nature of reality itself. But it was ruthless.
It is said that no one takes the path knowing what it really is, and the reasons that gets us there always evaporate revealing something else.
This is not a special condition for me alone, any Properly Initiated Sufi or Arif () would have mastered dreaming receiving initiation on the Left-side, and have it confirmed by their elders on the Right-side.
The Five Greats are not all quite translatable, yes they could be, but it's one thing to further discuss them for the sake of writing their associations within the world: Perception, Awareness and Attention but not as a description. They are the described force and phenomenon initializing more than the linguistic equivalency.
The major five petals or the Five Greats on the Black Flower Complete (زهر الظلام) are:AL Hil’em (الحلم) the Dreaming, dreams, An energy of easiness and letting go, second attention, impulse.
Al Ili’em, (العلم) science, Information, Knowledge , Conceptual reality, first attention, reason, intellect.
Al Wai’ed: (الوعد) promise, to become, destiny , predisposition , attainability, adversity, trepidation, triumph, defeat.
AL Hu’Q (الحق) Truth, abstract reality, governing factors, that which Is despite opinion, A name of a very Powerful Rouhania and a divine name, third attention
Al Hei’s (الحس) Intuition, conceptual reality, solidifying dreaming positions and reality to become the habitual place of the assemblage point, malleability of the cosmic fabric.
These will unfold clearer as we illustrate their work and application within the Sufic Sorcery system, and for those whom are interested, setting up a background story will prove helpful especially that we are discussing an oral tradition that as we mentioned doesn’t lend itself to linear investigation, meaning it is not a 1,2,3 step by step format and is best approached in a non static formats as it did for millennia.
Exploring a Polychronic oral tradition using Monochronic functionalities of writing and cataloging information leaves a lot wanting. especially because most material are not suited for public discussion. To remedy this, at every True New Crescent Moon, in accordance with the old tradition and calendar, I open my home for fellowship with friends and seekers to break bread and sprinkle salt. Sharing stories and Hud’Rah (حضرة) in the old ways insures full exposition of Dark Sufic Lore, and its continuity as a living tradition; with emphasis on practice, not essays. All are encouraged to partake if they can hear my call.