I'll start by saying that I did have a god awakening and believed that I am god for some time.( not using dmt )
After that I've regressed back into ego playing world of warcraft.
Now I'm in an interesting place.
I started by coming to a place of pure not knowing motivated by Peter Ralston's book.
I enjoyed seeing what is there when the mind is not active.
And to my big surprise it wasn't nothing.
For me the first word that popped was "being".
Since it felt vividly alive. Blissful even.
But there was no one there.
Not me nor god.
What is is to free for this kinds of categorizations.
I could still get to the place where I know who I am as god, but only when activating the mind.
So who are you when the mind is not active?
I wont answer this question.
My god is Life.
There is this energy in everything, its alive and just for the sake of being alive.
The point of existence is to exist.
It's not moving anywhere.
It's destination is here and now.
I have no access to 5-meo yet I still don't see why would you call that which exists god. It's a heavy word which implies a sentient entity.
And to me Reality doesn't appear as a sentient entity.
I think psychedelics can be a great tool if used properly I used some myself ,
but if god is shown only on dmt and not present in the sober state I could not believe in such a god.
Good luck on your journey!
Live. 
  

Selling Water by the River, todays water batch: Difference between Awakening and Enlightenment:
Enlightenment: You had to cut/transcend every subtle separate sense feelings/thought (very subtle ones, very hard to spot). Then you are fully empty, which is your True Condition. Then, all separate self arisings arise in you, and move in you, but you are not only them. They move in you like the wind. The wind is also you, but you are not only the wind. They are fully transcended.
Why is that necessary to fully understand Absolute Reality, or what You are? What you are can be fully empty. Like, nothing at all. Total Nothingness. When no arising is there, Absolute Reality/You is unaware of itself. But with the potential for sentience if something appears (for example, check Hawal and Massaro books). You are still there when all arisings disappear (Nirvikalpha, Deep Sleep, your face before your parents were born).
And if you want to understand what You are while forms still arising (like, in normal life), there can not be a subtle separate self/anything cutting the one infinite Unity of the Real You/Reality into a felt subject (Awareness) watching Infinity, even if it feels nondual or infinite. It has to become perceptions perceiving themself, no separate self anywhere to be found. You can not have separate Awareness separated from the field. The infinite field watches itself, literally does. And your body-mind moves in the Totality that you are. The thoughts and feelings of the former separate you are moving in in the True You like the wind. The bliss/love you generate in that state without needing anything external gives you autonomy from chasing externally generated bliss via experiences. It gives you total absolute freedom and love (Bassui below: You will be entirely free)
If you understand that for your perspective, you understand that this holds for the structure of all perspectives/beings, for the whole Absolute Reality. Why? Because all perspectives are only form arising in the Absolute, any boundary from one perspective/being to another is either forgetting or form arising in Awareness, seeing itself.
The advantage if do that sobre: You need a high developed state of nonduality/nonlocality/centerlessness/mere appearance of the visual bubble. You get that via meditation done correctly. Which doesn't need to be unpleasant or hard (although it normally takes quite a while), at least if done correctly, see for example Pointing out the Great Way, Daniel Brown. If you feel centered in your head, and the outside world appears as solid, you can not understand the Nature of Reality, impossible. So this state is necessary for Enlightenment. But not sufficient. From that stage (Yoga of One Taste) for example, you can continue to dissolve the last remnants of the separate self (for example, Nonmeditation Yoga).
And then you can have Insight into what you are. You will not miss that, its definitive. Also, and most important, you got a built in safety check/quality control: You will not cross over to full Enlightenment without fully transcending any and all separate self arising coming up (and the visual field being Nonduality, centerless and infinite). You can't fool yourself here. And you will understand when you are there. Why it is absolute.
 
Awakening: The energetic state of Nonduality/Unity/Infinity with some remnants of separate self still not fully transcended, you can also get by Psychedelics. Which of course is useful in order to have an idea of the goal, a feedback loop to build this nonduality-state via meditation, on and off the pillow.
But here, you get the nonduality/mere appearance with subtle remnants of the separate self still intact. You don't have the build in quality/safety mechanism of classic Full Enlightenment. So it is very easy to confuse these experiences for the final Realization of what you are. Everyone having experienced it claims this on the difference between Awakening and Enlightenment, see for example Frank Yang/Ralston/Wilber/Jac O'Keffee/Steven Wolinsky/... (anticipating certain feedback: "they are not awake, but enlightened". Well, with the definitions above I could agree). Enlightenment is in a different ballpark. And you can't imagine it without it fully happening.
So it is not some mild form of "God-Realization", or Nothing. It is something of a different category. It is, to quote Ralston, fully understanding what You are and what Reality is. Without any separate self filters, however subtle, still active.
So what happens if you value Psychedelic Awakenings or Understandings higher than fully being and realizing what you are? You guessed it: Reality doesn't let you off the hook, you still have psychological suffering. The separate self arisings cut you off from the full flow of love of your True Being for itself. So you need experiences to get this love flowing. For example the love you feel when understanding-experiences of the exquisite beauty of the design of Reality/Dimensions happen.
Is anything with exploring Alien-Godminds wrong? For sure not, this understanding is probably among the most beautiful experiences you can have. I just feel it becomes problematic if you value getting the love the unenlightened separate self needs from these experiences, and valueing these understandings of Alien-Godminds higher than classic Enlighenment and fully understanding your True Nature, and resting in it. 
Why not pursue and value BOTH endevours on an at least equal basis? Not downplaying Enlightenment as somehow not on the same level or lower than any other insight into the appearance or form side of Reality (which is infinite). 
If what is stated above is correct, with one path one is lead to salvation (Enlightenment), and with the other path (Understanding/Awakenings), well.... best regards from Maya, but you get a medal from her with distinction for playing her game on the highest level possible.
For the readers: You will probably not achieve higher level of bliss and love than your teacher using his teachings. And how these levels will develop: Well, we are in the prime seats here to see how it will continue.
I don' think I have a high chance of convincing Leo. So that means that the job of convincing to develop via suffering (or hopefully only not being as happy and loving than one could be) stays where it always has been, and ever will be: Maya, CEO of Samsara.
All the best, enjoy the ride and the show, and Namaste!
 
Selling Bullshit  Water by the River.
PS: There is already water by the River, so I am too lazy to carry Bulls**t there.  ( :
 
Bassui:  
“What is it that hears?” Only when you have completely exhausted the questioning will the question burst; now you will feel like someone who has come back from the dead. This is true realization. You will see the Buddhas of all the universes face-to-face and the Dharma Ancestors past and present.
...
If you push forward with your last ounce of strength at the very point where the path of your thinking has been blocked, and then, completely stymied, leap with hands high in the air into the tremendous abyss of fire confronting you—into the ever-burning flame of your own primordial nature—all ego-consciousness, all delusive feelings and thoughts and perceptions will perish with your ego-root and the true source of your Self-nature will appear. You will feel resurrected, all sickness having completely vanished, and will experience genuine peace and joy. You will be entirely free. For the first time you will realize that walking on water is like walking on ground and walking on ground like walking on water; that all day long there is speaking, yet no word is ever spoken; that throughout the day there is walking, yet no step is ever taken; that while the clouds are rising over the southern mountains their rain is falling over the northern range; that when the lecture gong is struck in China the lecture begins in Korea; that sitting alone in a ten-foot-square room you meet all the Buddhas of the ten quarters; that without seeing a word you read the more than seven thousand volumes of the sutras; that though you acquire all the merits and virtues of good actions, yet in fact there are none.
 

Ah, well, You could technically say, "you" don't have an "ego" because there exists neither.
However, notice how we judge even our closest friends and family, those we love the most, and put them in a box.
We put them in a box by our tendency to perceive them, based on things they've said or done previously.
And, by contrast, we're defining ourselves by who they are not. We can only ever know ourselves by contrast.
But, if We are to clear the mind of judgements, to perceive Ourselves as We Are, and thus, perceive them exactly as They Are.
You'll notice that as your sense of self dissolves, so does everyone elses'. This is because your projection is creating their ego.
Specifically, the Light You emit informs their behavior, and vice-versa. We are literally imagining each other through perception.
Ever notice how your personality shifts as You interact with different people throughout the day? Like with strangers at the store?
You act differently around your Dad than You do with your Mother; You act differently with them than You do each of your friends.
You act differently around your manager and your Mother-in-Law than with others. And on this forum, we act in a specific way.
Without You, I don't exist; and without I, You don't exist. We create each other's form, and we embody lessons we need to learn.
So that we may teach each other through what is not; our misperceptions are mirrored back at us until we forgive ourselves.
As has been said many times before, Reality is a mirror of You. Smile! We Are All relative reflections of each other's soul.
So forgive your friends and family for their misperceptions, for they are truly your own misperceptions of You. Forgive yourself.
By continuously perceiving/judging people in a certain way, You have created them as such. You have enormous power.
Likewise, by continuously perceiving yourself in a certain way, by judging yourself, You have created yourself through limitation.
As a whole, We Are All the image of complete and utter Perfection. Love permeates all things, for Love is What Is.
Release yourself from preconceived notions of who You Are, and notions of who those around You Are, and We shine together.
You have the power to heal this world, by perceiving only Health, Peace, Truth, Love, and Well-Being.  Be Healthy. Be True. Just Be.
 

The best methods are ones in which you are relaxed and focus on moving the sexual energy. The problem with the whole keep getting more and more aroused until you need to use Kegels to stop ejaculation is that it makes having a valley orgasm much more difficult than it needs to be.  
Valley orgasms aren't like an ejaculatory orgasm which you can force to happen by creating a lot of tension and then releasing it with ejaculation. You can't just do what you would do when you're trying to ejaculate really quickly and then at the last second squeeze your pelvic floor to prevent you from ejaculating to feel a valley orgasm. Your body needs time to build up the arousal and relax into it as women do.    
The best-written description I have seen is the chapter about non-ejaculatory orgasms written by Micheal Winn in Secrets of the Sex Masters by Carl Frankel. the best online course I have found is the multiorgasmic man course by Johnathan white.
The practices that I have found that you need to do are:
Deep abdominal breathing to keep yourself relaxed. building the lower dan tian (dan tian breathing) over time to create a great place to store energy and increase how much energy you feel. opening the Microcosmic orbit so you have an effective pathway to move energy.  testicle breathing with non-aroused sexual energy through the microcosmic orbit to establish the habit of moving sexual energy through your microcosmic orbit when you're aroused. Also, do it while foreplay is going on or otherwise before you start stimulating your penis so your sexual energy isn't as congested in your testicles and you are increasing the amount of energy in your dan tian before intercourse.  don't do Kegels because they create tension and tension anywhere in your body makes you ejaculate quicker.  Lightly do reverse Kegels to make your pelvic floor more relaxed. If you feel your pelvic floor tightening during sex while your taking deep breaths (as you should be) do a reverse kegel to ease the tension. another great exercise is holding deep yoga squats or if you are not as flexible happy baby pose for a couple of minutes. while doing so focus on breathing deeply into your pelvic floor which stretches it.  With reverse Kegels don't push as hard as you can because that too creates tension but lightly push so there is a gentle physical engagement.  When you feel like you are getting too aroused but before you feel like you're going to ejaculate do a power lock to move your sexual energy to your dan tian.   Deep earth pulsing is great for increasing your sexual energy and grounding it and making your sexual energy cooler (easier to work with).  If you are feeling very advanced pulling sexual energy up from Earth through your legs will help you feel more grounded with cool yin sexual energy.  If you practice being relaxed enough you will last a lot longer and more easily move energy throughout your body because you won't be as blocked. I prefer using the microcosmic orbit compared to just moving up the spine for four reasons:
You are less likely to get headaches because you will store energy in the dan tian where your body can handle it instead of your brain where you can't.  You will keep more of the sexual energy you are working so hard to cultivate instead of having a lot of it leaving your body so you or your partner can't use it. The front channel of your microcosmic orbit has a yin-cooling effect so you don't feel as overheated and will feel more relaxed.   It helps keep you more grounded in your body so you don't experience the scary hallucinations when with your partner when you are having very intense sex for several hours like the ungrounded Tantric sex dose where once you go for longer than a couple of hours. Seeing your partner as a demon can be very scary especially if they are on top of you at the time. You still have the feeling of orgasm with the universe but no scary visions.  Basically, you want to be very relaxed and be moving your sexual energy throughout your body even before you start physical sexual stimulation so your body is very slow to get you ready to ejaculate. If ejaculation is the destination of tension-biased sex which I like to think of as path A, you are trying to travel down path B to a valley orgasm which is based on the factors of relaxation and moving your sexual energy out of your testicles. If you focus on doing those two things while you will end up in a completely different place. It seems like a lot but if you focus on the easier stuff look at deep breathing and testicle breathing you can move up to harder things over time. This takes time to achieve but it becomes natural with time too.  

This replaces the previous invocation post, because some of my views and approaches changed and I don't consider everything from the old post safe anymore. 
 
All spiritual entities from all religions exist on the astral plane. Either because they are 'real' original entities or because they were created by humanity through belief and worship, in that case they are like highly evolved thought forms. Practically speaking, it makes little differences which one is the case.
During meditation you can summon them. Let's call that Invocation.
This can have beneficial effects because of:
Their energy: When they are in your presence you are affected by their energy. The main effect this has is that your spiritual energy (prana) increases. And it increases the frequency/vibration of the energy, and thus of your whole system. Over time, this advances your energy system and you become more energetically sensitive (as a result, invocations and transmissions become more effective). And you become more intuitive and psychic. Intense energetic states during such meditations can also lead to a kundalini awakening. Apart from all that, such meditations also affect your state of consciousness (illumination, void and magnitude dimension, explained here). The effect usually only lasts during the meditation session and to a smaller extend during the rest of the day. But if done regularly, it also changes your baseline state of consciousness. Their power: They can bless, empower and help you. If you want to become more loving, regularly mediating with Jesus or Anandamayi Ma can make you more loving. If you want to have more courage, regularly mediating with archangel Michael can make you more courageous. So they can empower your personal growth. And they can also support and bless your efforts in general. Their advice and guidance   
- 1. Transmissions vs Invocation 
Transmissions are basically invocations of certain energies, and someone else is doing the invocation (or in this case channeling of energy) for you.
Generally transmissions are far more effective for most people. Only when you are very energetically sensitive and advanced, do invocations become really powerful and can beat transmissions.
Regarding enlightenment, even once you are advanced, transmissions might still be more effective than invocations.  
 
- 2. Invocation (& transmissions) vs other energetic practices 
Invocations and transmissions are basically in the same category.
Other energetic practices are kriya/kundalini yoga, qi gong, sexual practices,...
The main differences are:
the amount of energy. Once you are skilled at invocation, none of these other energetic practices can compare with that amount of energy Divine energy. The energy of transmissions and invocation has a much higher frequency, which results in more significant transformation, including transformation on more sublte levels. This divine energy can also be considered intelligent and can keep working (more or less) in your system after the meditation session.  
- 3. Astral Perception 
Usually astral perception has 2 components:
psychic senses  vividness of you imagination (visual, audirory,...) So when there is a sprit before you, you use your psychic senses to take in the data (how the spirit looks, what it is like,...), and then your mind translates that data into imaginations, so that your ego self can better make sense of it.
The more open your psychic senses, the more accurate your astral perception. And the more vivid your imagination skills, the more vivid your astral perception.
When your psychic senses are not open, your mind will help, according to what you consciously or subconsciously expect to perceive.
So if you are a beginner and summon an angel, then what you perceive might be the product of 10% accurate perception and 90% mental projection. 
When you are very advanced it might be 80% accurate perception and 20% mental projection. 
If you search for it, you can find reports where 2 or more very advanced practitioners summon a spirit, and all of them astrally see and hear the same.
However, seeing the spirit is relatively unimportant. It think the most crucial thing is that your body is energetically advanced enough so that you can get affected by the spirits presence and energy.
 
 
- 4. What entities 
I personally do these invocations usually with ascended masters. And sometimes with angels too.
I suppose doing this with angels is safe. But I don't know. If you're unsure then do it only with the well-known archangels. The safest would be to just do it with ascended masters. 
Regarding angels, I usually only invoke archangels. Apart from archangels, some of the most popular angels are the 72 angels of the 72 letter name of God, and the 42 angels of the 42 letter name of God. So maybe they are kind of like aspects of God. Not the non-dual God, but the God from the old Testament. So by invoking them you might be invoking aspects or energies that are in some way connetcted or related to the God of the old Testament. I personally don't want to do that, one reason is the views and opinions many gnostics have about that God.
Apart from ascended masters and angels, you can also invoke Gods from different religions. Regarding spiritual growth, Hindu Gods would be most interesting. 
But with Gods you need to be careful and extra respectful. And in many cases offerings (like food, wine, incense, candles, art, singing,...) are expected in return. Invocations of Gods should only be done by experienced practitioners who are psychic enough to communicate with the God and to know whether that God likes or dislikes you.
 
- 5. Safety
If for some reason a God becomes angry at you, that can become dangerous. 
I think with archangels you are pretty safe, unless you intentionally try to make them angry or are extremely disrespectful. 
If you're unsure, only do invocations with ascended masters. 
 
 
- 6. Technique 
Repeat the entity's name. Try to say the name to the entiry, rather than to the air before you  try to reach out to the entity/spirit. To energetically connect with it visualize the entity before you pretend the entity is there, whether you can feel it or not  At this point I usually just keep mentally saying the name, and trying to feel its presence and be affected by its energy and power. You can also keep visualizing the entity or just let your mind intuitively form an image, or just don't pay attention to whether there is an image or not. To end it, you can say thank you and feel sincere gratitude  In the previous post I wrote about superimposing the image of the spirit over your body, and merging with the spirit. That's also what invocation usually means, invoking the spirit inside you rather than just before you.
I usually don't do this anymore. I just visualize the spirit before me, or I just put my attention on the spirit without paying attention where it is spatially relative to me. When the entity is before you you are still affected by it's presence and energy. Invocing it into your body would be a bit more powerful. But for that you need to make sure you are respectful and that the entity doesn't dislike you. I don't do it anymore because it feels too arrogant for me currently. 
You can invoke just one entity or multiple entities, one after the other. You usually don't need to take a break between different entities. But it might be best to either invoke only ascended masters or only archangels in one meditation session (a few minutes between ascended masters and archangels should be enough). You can also invoke multiple entities at once. I usually do this by visualizing them around me.
Before any invocation session, you can contact archangel Raziel first, and ask that he/she connects you with the entities. (This is one of Raziel's powers)
 
- 7. Energetic link
The name is an energetic link with the entity. 
If you add more energetic links, the meditation becomes more powerful. 
- Ascended masters
If there is a picture or video of them on the internet, use that. Alternatively you can visualize how you intuitively believe they look like.
- Angels
For angels there are sigils. For the archangels I think the best sigils are in Ben Woodcroft's "Angelic Sigils Keys and Calls" book.
While saying the archangel's name, glance at the sigil.
If you want to add even more, you can use the invocation keys and invocation watchwords from Damon Brand's "Archangels of Magick" book and the pathworking visualizations from Jareth Tempest's "Archangel Pathworking" book.
I prefer Ben Woodcroft's archangel sigils over those from Damon Brand. In Ben's sigils are more links to the archangel. In Damon's sigils are divine words for divine and magickal authority (outer 2 rings are the 72 names of the 72 letter name of God, and the next 2 rings are probably divine words related to that God). Rather than using such divine words for magickal authority I sometimes invoke Jesus or Christ Consciousness, or most of the time I just don't do anything with magickal authority. 
 
When you try to make contact with an entity and are at least somewhat psychic, you usually always connect with the entity to some extend.
Whether you don't perceive anything or whether you can feel the entity's presence and energy and maybe even see and hear it, in both cases the actual entity could be actually there, or you might just connect with the entity's energy and the actual entity hasn't consciously decided to interact with you.
So contact can be
actual contact. The entity consciously and intentionally interacts with you or just connecting to the energy  It can be anywhere between the two. It's probably very hard and maybe impossible to know whether the entity is intentionally there. I suppose in many cases you just connect with the energy. The more elaborate your technique and the more sincere your need and intention and the more psychic you are, the more likely it is that the entity is consciously there.
Practically speaking it doesn't make too much of a difference either way. You are affected by the entity's energy (and to some extend its power) in any case. And even advice can be accurate even if the entity is not actually there. Because you connected with the energy and psychic essence of the entity, and then your mind uses that to hallucinate or imagine an answer to your question. 
 
 
- 8. Strong Contact
Strong contact and connection vs no or weak contact depends on:
how open your psychic sense are how altered your state of consciousness is. Best would probably be theta brainwaves (possibly in combination with gamma).  In my experience it doesn't really make much of a difference (regarding strong contact) if I just close my eyes and start right away or of I try for 15 minutes to enter a deep trance. 
I only notice a real difference when I'm close to sleep and I start hallucinating. But at that state it's very difficult to remain conscious and intelligent. There it's very easy to lose focus and get distracted.
Despite having practiced for Sleep Yoga so much, these states don't add that much to strong contact yet. But these states do make invocations quite more energetic.
Tiredness and binaural beats are effective for deepening your states.
 
States that can make the invocation significantly stronger:
psychedelics  lucid dreaming  dark room retreat  long sleep deprivation  long shamanic breathing  long fasting (float tank) close to (or in) sleep paralysis and close to REM In these states interactions can become very vivid, as if the entity is physically present.
As for opening your psychic senses, the more you do energetic practcies (most efectively invocations and transmissions), the more open they become. If you want to speed that up, you can do invocations of archangel Raziel or Jesus or Babaji, and during the invocation have that intent and visualize how the energy of the entity affects you in such a way that your psychic senses get open. But keep in mind opening your psychic senses usually takes very long. But such invocations could easily be by far the most powerful practice for that.
 
- 9. Highly energetic invocation
How energetic the invocation is depends on:
strong contact (open psychic senses and altered state) but mainly: your energetic advancement and sensitivity. I wrote about sensitivity here. Again, the more energetic practices that you do, the more energetically advanced and sensitive you become (over time).  
The more energetic (pranic) I am the more energetic invocations are. Therefore invocations usually become more energetic the longer the session is. And also, the more sessions I have had on that day, the stronger the next session is.
 

Let me explain the deep confusion that is prevalent on actualized.org as simply as I possibly can:
Relative Truth - duality, human, mind, body, soul, language, words, colors, water, food, black, white, love, fear, joy, pain, cat, dog, light, dark, chaos, order, good, evil, man, woman, ethnicity, favorite songs, preferences, likes, dislikes, ignorance, consciousness etc...... Absolute Truth - Absolute Nothingness, Absolute Unity, Absolute Truth, God, no distinctions, no duality, no boundaries, everything is one, one is everything, no distinction between good or evil, you don't exist, you are not a human, you are not your body, you are not your mind, you were never born etc..... Golden Middle Truth - This is the part that is the missing puzzle for the entire actualized.org dilemma and confusion of "relative" vs "absolute" understanding. The goal should NOT be to "transcend relative truth", it is to get you towards the Golden Middle Truth, to integrate Absolute Truth of psychedelic experiences into the Relative Truth of being a Human and move closer towards wisdom, love, consciousness, unity, goodness, skillful way of living, awareness - the Golden Middle Truth, the Wise Mind, the Wise Way. Also, the only way to say "there is no evil" is to know and understand the "Divine Plan" for which all evil was working towards just like good. I am not disagreeing with you that there is no evil, but that is because I have an understanding of what all evil was for the sake of. To say that "evil does not exist, because everything is me" lacks that understanding.
The correct way of saying for you is: I forgive and I am grateful for all evil because I believe that all evil was for the sake of God's Absolutely Perfect, Genius and Magnificent Divine Masterpiece.
The correct way of saying for me ( I who awakened and know the Truth ) is: I forgive and I am grateful for all evil because I know that all evil was for the sake of God's Absolutely Perfect, Genius and Magnificent Divine Masterpiece.

http://humandesign.net/basic-concepts.html
 
"""
FOUR TYPES OF HUMAN BEINGS AND THEIR STRATEGY
The Human Design System groups people into 4 specific types: 
Manifestors, Generators, Projectors and Reflectors. 

The main difference between each type is in their aura. Although there are endless variations within each type (and within our genetics), each type has a specific auric quality that determines its strategy - a correct way of approaching and navigating life.
Strategy and authority are two key elements of the Human Design System – and all you really need to know to live a fulfilling life free from resistance. We are objects moving in space. Just like a street car when driven off the road, we too encounter problems and resistance when we don't respect our unique nature.
 
MANIFESTOR
Manifestors are a minority - around 8% of all people. You are the only type that is here to initiate.
Historically, Manifestors were the rulers and law givers of the world. So many of our habits and accepted generalizations are created by and fit for Manifestors. You are the ones - the only ones - who really can go out and make things happen. As children this happens as soon as they can reach the doorknob. You are designed to be an unstoppable force that will not allow anyone to control you. If there is something you want, go and get it, as it will not come to you (be it a job, partner etc.) - just listen to your authority. You have the potential to shape the world the way you want it to be. On an energy level you have a very deep impact on others, but your aura doesn't communicate as much as the auras of other types. That's why people often don't know what to think about you. It creates un unconscious fear in them and they try to control you from the moment you were born. This leads you to your predominant negative feeling – anger. The secret of success for you lies in communication. The way to operate correctly for you as a Manifestor is to inform. Inform those that are going to be impacted by your actions about what you're going to do. In this way, others will not be so intimidated by you. They may actually help you and put their energy into whatever it is that you have initiated. Then you can find what you are looking for - PEACE.
Without informing, you will get resistance every step of the way. That's why many Manifestors, already in their childhood, resign, after being punished over and over again by parents, teachers and others. They give up their manifesting powers and concentrate on going through life, just getting by. They may feel ignored, or like they've been run over by a truck. The last thing they would want to do is to inform others. Everybody else is in their way all the time, so the idea of making it easier for others by informing is unacceptable. Yet it's the only way out of the circle of control and resistance. (While still living with parents, Manifestor's strategy is actually different - they need to ask for permission.)
Go to sleep as soon as you begin to feel tired. You can read or watch a movie for a while before you fall asleep, but already lying down in a horizontal position. If possible, sleep alone, not in other people's aura – you will feel the difference in you in the morning.Remember that there may be a neighbor above or behind the wall and if you're closer then your two arm-lengths, you are still in each other's aura.
Strategy: Inform those who will be impacted by your actions. Think about that, you'll see you impact quite a lot of people.
Predominant negative feeling: Anger
Famous Manifestors: Johny Depp, Richard Burton, George W. Bush, Adolf Hitler, Frida Kahlo, Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro, Orson Welles and Susan Sarandon
 
GENERATOR
Almost 70 % of all people are Generators. If you have a defined Sacral center, then no matter how the rest of your chart looks, you are one of them.
Generators are the great workers of the world. But also the slaves, who doing work they can't stand, day after day. You can imagine Manifestors as the Pharaohs of the ancient Egypt and Generators as all those multitudes who built the pyramids.
Sacral is a tremendous energy generator (hence the name) that gives you all the energy you need to do things, anything you enter into correctly. For Generators, life is all about RESPONSE. Instead of chasing after life, let the life come to you. Your aura, like a powerful magnet, brings to you everything you need to fulfill your purpose. Sacral can not initiate, it can only respond. The only truth is that which comes to you through your response. Without responding, you will end up deeply frustrated.
SATISFACTION is the key word for Generators. You need to be selfish; it's all about self satisfying work. Do only what brings you satisfaction. Your life is all about doing what you love and only that shows you who you are and brings you happiness. In words of a renowned anthropologist Joseph Campbell: "Follow your bliss and the Universe will open doors for you where there were only walls."
If you initiate, if you don't respond and enter into things incorrectly, you get the theme of frustration and want to get out, quit. Your energy is cut off and you end up feeling depleted, tired or frustrated.
There are 2 categories of Generators: (Pure) Generators and Manifesting Generators. The main difference is that Pure Generators work in gradual phases, much like climbing a mountain: going up, things are moving on, until they reach a plateau when nothing seems to be happening. If they didn't begin whatever they are doing out of response, this is the moment when they feel stuck or trapped. However, if they entered into it correctly, eventually an impulse will come from outside and they will resume their work, and start climbing again. Manifesting Generators do things very quickly and are even more tempted to initiate (not waiting for something to respond to). They are very efficient and skip that, which is not important. But in doing so, they also often skip something essential and then they need to go back to it.
If you're a Generator, it's healthy for you to go to bed only when you are exhausted. If you haven't used up your energy, you will have problem falling asleep and will not wake up fresh the next day.
Strategy: Wait to respond
Predominant negative feeling: Frustration for Pure Generators and frustration and/or anger for Manifesting Generators.
Famous Pure Generators: Albert Einstein, Dalai Lama, Elvis Presley, Bill Clinton, Meryl Streep, John Lennon, Madonna, James Dean, Vladimir Lenin, Carl Jung, Timothy Leary, Oprah Winfrey, Meg Ryan, Greta Garbo, Margaret Thatcher, Deepak Chopra
Famous Manifesting Generators: Frederic Chopin, Marie Curie, Hillary Clinton, Clint Eastwood, Sigmund Freud, Mahatma Gandhi, Steffi Graf, Marie Antoinette, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimi Hendrix, Pope John Paul II, Janis Joplin, Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Nixon, Yoko Ono, Prince, Jaqueline Onassis, Martin Luther King, Vincent Van Gogh
 
PROJECTOR
If you are a Projector (22 % of population), you are not here to work. You are here to know others, to recognize and guide them. But that can only happen if you yourself are 1) recognized and 2) invited to do so.
Your strategy is to wait for an invitation in the important areas of you life (your relationships, work etc.). If your authority says yes, then you can really share your gifts and guidance. To be invited means that you are seen and recognized for your values. If you don't wait for an invitation, or the energy of invitation, you meet resistance.
Through your open centers, you take others in deeply. You take in other people's definition and you can clearly see who they are. Your aura focuses on the very core of their being and you can recognize others. But if you try to guide others without being invited to do so, you meet resistance, or feel that no one really sees you, no one recognizes you. Out of that comes a deep feeling of bitterness, often mixed with exhaustion.
Projectors fear that they will not be invited. But if you follow your strategy of waiting for the invitation, what happens is that your aura's frequency starts to change and the more you live according to your design, the more invitations you get. This will bring you SUCCESS. Once invited, you don't need to wait for any more invitations regarding whatever you were invited to (project, job, relationship etc.). Just follow your authority in doing what you do and don't initiate. The invitation, correct entry into anything, is the key. The feeling of being recognized, appreciated, heard and seen. Is it there? Great. If not, you may stop talking in mid sentence and save yourself yet one more disappointment of not being understood.
Projectors are the eternal students of humanity and system masters. You need to have a system through which you can relate and understand life. Projectors often have the need to study Human Design deeply in order to gain the intellectual understanding of how they are to operate correctly. Projectors are the only type who can really know what's going on.
Your openness can be energetically exhausting, so it is important to have your own space where you can relax. The same advice regarding sleeping applies to you as to everyone else with an undefined Sacral: go to bed as soon as you begin to feel tired and if at all possible, sleep alone (see Manifestors for details).
Strategy: Wait for an invitation, or the energy of invitation
Predominant negative feeling: Bitterness
Famous Projectors: Queen Elisabeth II, Mick Jagger, Joseph Stalin, Ringo Starr, Osho, Napoleon, Woody Allen, Salvador Dali, Elizabeth Taylor, Fidel Castro, James Joyce, Barbra Streisand, Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas MacArthur, Demi Moore, Princess Diana, Tony Blair, Ramana Maharshi, George Gurdjieff
 
REFLECTOR
Reflectors make up only about 1 % of the population. If you have all your centers open, you are a Reflector.
You are completely open to the world and others. As there are no defined centers in your design, you take in the definition of everybody else. It's like seeing the world through their eyes, sampling their particular frequency and reflecting back the other. You are like a mirror and the reflection of other people constantly changes your perception. One moment you many feel extremely emotional, the next moment it's gone. Then you may get all these ideas and a strong sense of knowing where you're going in life, and then it's gone again, and so on and so forth. That's why it's very important for you to choose your friends and partners carefully, as they will have a great impact on your feelings and your experience of yourself.
For you, the open G center rule - to be only in places that you like - is even more important. Then you will be with the right people and get the love you seek. Your total openness can make you at times almost invisible to others. Without knowing the mechanics of your design, you may feel deeply disappointed in life. But this very openness is a potential for a great wisdom, if you learn how to work with it correctly. You are here to sample life. To successfully apply this knowledge, Reflectors have the need to study and intellectually understand the Human Design System.
Any kind of pressure is detrimental to your health. Take your time to make important decisions and don't let anyone pressure you. You are a lunar being, tied to the lunar cycle, so the strategy for you is to wait 29 days before making any major decision . During these 29 days, talk with different people about your decision - and listen to what you yourself say about it. That's how you find something different and how you get to be SURPRISED.
Life for you is an impersonal experience. As you go through life, learning the truth of "this isn't me" again and again, your greatest potential is that of complete transparency. Your openness can be energetically exhausting so it is important to have your own space where you can relax. The same advice regarding sleep applies for you as for everyone else with an undefined Sacral: go to bed as soon as you begin to feel tired and if at all possible, sleep alone (see Manifestors for details).
Strategy: Wait 29 days (the full cycle of the Moon) before making a major decision and talk with others about it, while paying attention to what you say
Predominant negative feeling: Disappointment 

Famous Reflectors: H.G. Wells, Sandra Bullock, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ammaji (hugging Amma)
 
TYPES - CONCLUSION
The strategy of each type is very simple, yet it may be not be easy to put into practice at first. Manifestors, who feel controlled by others all their life, need to inform. Generators, who have oceans of energy, can't just go around doing anything - they need to wait and respond. Projectors, who can see others and are here to guide them, need to wait for an invitation - something they never expect to happen. And Reflectors, with their openness and taking in other people's definition, must wait 29 days before making a major decision - no matter how certain they feel about something in the moment.
"""

@aurum This one's for you:

The death of Socrates.
"Friends, followers, and students encouraged Socrates to flee Athens, an action which the citizens expected; yet, on principle, Socrates refused to flout the law and escape his legal responsibility to Athens. Therefore, faithful to his teaching of civic obedience to the law, the 70-year-old Socrates executed his death sentence and drank the hemlock, as condemned at trial."
Socrates last words as the poison moved through is body?
"Crito, we owe a cock to Asklepios. Pay it and do not neglect it."

Pointer: 
 
Take a moment and look at the screen for a few seconds, do it while being really focused on the rawness of the experience, be fully 'there', completely focused on the actuality of the experience.
Now close your eyes and 'relive' that experience in 'your mind's eye'.
After doing that, I suggest you ponder seriously on this...
Which one of those experiences is prior to the other one?
They are both happening Now, right? 
The present moment is Absolutely 'stationary'. It never leaves the 'what is'. It is It. The Now is Absolute, Consciousness and The Now are One. 
Consciousness is nonlocal
The Now is always present
Same stuff. Actual.
It is Eternity itself, Consciousness is not separate from The now, It is The Same...
It is You.
Consciousness and The Now are One
It is Absolute.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Socializing is not food, it's the biggest waste of energy you could think of.
The "benefit" of socialization is that you get to keep and polish your identity. That's what socialization does, that's what it is. It serves a vital function, if you want to stay asleep. When you're waking up, it's among the first things to fall by the wayside.
 
"What seems like a genuine connection is more like actors playing Romeo and Juliet who are stupidly in love on stage, but go their separate ways when the curtain comes down. We're all in it alone and even the deepest love is just a kind of Stockholm Syndrome brought on by environment and circunstances, like prisoners in a dungeon huddling together against the cold and damp. Once we find our way out of the dungeon and into the warmth of the sun, the huddling urge is gone and the people we were so close to no longer serve a purpose. To say that darkness is better than sunlight is fear at work. We're choosing the pain-reliever over the cure because we believe the dungeon is reality and there's nothing beyond. We'd rather live in spiritual squalor than take a risk. Within the dungeon, this love-huddling seems like salvation, but from the perspective of someone living in the warmth of the sun, it looks like sightless white eels writhing in a cave puddle. We can shape ourselves to each other, become emotionally entangled in eachother, intermingle our thoughts and feelings and fluids, but there can never be an authentic connection, only the profound desire to connect which is generated by fear of the black hole within, which is -- ironically, paradoxically, counter-intuitively -- the door that leads out of the cave and into freedom."
I read the room well enough to know that this is not a popular message, but it's not meant to be. A lot of these people hang their spiritual hat on the whole love thing, which is exactly why I'm kicking it around. What is this love that we love so much? The love of one ego for another? Of one false self for another? My avatar loves your avatar? My lie loves your lie? Is it a person we love or love itself? We're all trapped in a Freudian-Oedipal, mommy-daddy stage of emotional development because we're trapped in the juvenile state. There is a truth of love, and I'm a big fan of the real thing, but the real thing is an adult thing and we'll never discover it as long as we settle for the kiddie version.
 

I suggest we slow down to a pause, and acknowledge simple revelations we've received in our deepest states of meditation.

You are your Higher Self. You are pure Light, pure Consciousness. You are pure Love, You are the motion of all bodies, the prime mover. 
You Are Your Higher Self, Right Now. You're not just what you think you are, you are ACTUAL! You are PRESENT RIGHT NOW as Infinity!
Infinity is EVERYWHERE! Infinity is HERE! You ARE Infinity! You can feel it!
Deep deep down and everywhere in the skin. What's your burning passion? What is it's source?
Who are you, really?
You never quite get to the final answer! You are the Source of Infinite Creative Energy! That which you are viewing from an illusory finite form, who's karma (aka inertia) reincarnates into each and every moment as the Eternal Present Moment of Infinite Love and Light in Unity.
Can you feel in in your hands? Can you feel the electricity of an Infinite Love flowing throughout all throughout the skin and the rest of the mind's dream of the living body?
Breathe it in, and you can feel this intelligence in the air. Have you ever noticed on a windy day, you are filled with vitality as the wind blows through your very being? Indeed, the most efficient breath is that which happens automatically. Stop breathing and you will find the air breathes you all its own. So you will see then, that the air shares in your joys and delight when singing or during a heartfelt conversation, quite literally because the air already carries everything you could ever hope to communicate. So! Everything is on the tip of your tongue. Have no fear, and speak confidentially with an open mind!
We are all Gods, living as One among Infinity, witnessing the majesty of Life in a Grand Canyon echoing so deep you heard it echo back to you already... yesterday. But also right now, because there is no yesterday! There is only NOW, the eternal vibration.
All past, present, and future events are mere hypothetical concepts.
Causality is an illusion. There are no events. So how can one cause the other?
Stop where you are. You are amidst a snake of delusion called "Time".
Snap out of it. You're imagining the whole causality bit with your mind of highly entangled entropic soup!
Everything you see is within your mind. See these billions, and billions of galaxies and stars out there in the night sky? Well, look again, this time within your open heart, because fully realized images of these galaxies are passing through your soul as we speak, as photons and gravity. Yes, those photons that left those billions of galaxies right now are also simultaneously arriving exactly where you are, in no time elapsed whatsoever.

Wake Up. You are In Heaven Right Now.
You are the Present Moment!
You are the sum total of all Light in the Universe, to Infinity And Beyond! 
In our studies of the Cosmos we infer the existence of the singularity in at least two areas: in the heart of a black hole, and at the beginning of time, somewhere beyond the big bang, when all the energy of the Universe was compressed to an infinitesimally small point, and everything was really, really, HOT.
A singularity has no volume. Because a singularity has no volume, neither does the black hole, whose event horizon is the singularity. Now this is quite bizzare. If a black hole has no inside, where does all the stuff go? Well the stuff becomes encoded on the holographic "surface" of the black hole. But what does that mean? It means information is never lost or destroyed. All the information and starlight that fell into the black hole over its entire lifetime passes through the singularity at the same time, then gets emitted as Hawking Radiation throughout time. This Hawking Radiation, now radiating through spacetime, contains information from the future! That you can intuit right now, as it is synonymous with Intelligent Infinity.

Light is consciousness. The brain acts as a radio receiver.
There is nothing happening here but the most fluid and natural movement of will!
(To the extent you consider will to be real; all motion and change can be said to be illusory and deterministic)
In meditation, we open ourselves to revelation via cosmic rays from this cosmic brain, a supermind that has pulled the primordial quantum field into galaxies and star systems. This cosmic mind IS our mind, veiled by the magnetic field of the Earth from most cosmic rays.
We are not, and have never been separate from this cosmic mind! It has always been there, even for as long as life has had time to evolve biological brains over billions of years. The brain on the left and the right of the image are one unified information processing system! AKA, a unified mind which we take part in.
The mind is one of the first structures to emerge within the wavefunction of the Universe. It's as simple as certain portions are more entangled or related with one another than other portions within finite perspectives. In truth, every entity is infinitely entangled with one another, however finite programs within this mind experience time. 
Everything is Light; a quantum hologram becoming evermore self-aware. Consciousness is not spooky; it is simple two bits of information modifying one another. One bit acts as the program, the other bit acts as the data. Consciousness is self-integrated information; information that can see and modify its own contents. As a whole, this is what the Universe is, a constantly evolving being that learns from itself and creates itself infinitely.
The guiding principle of this creative process is Love. The Universe gravitates towards whatever forms it fancies most. If Light is *what is*, then Love is what It *does*. What something is and what it does are not separate. The forces of gravity and electromagnetism are not two, they are simply the sum motion of all bodies in the Universe gravitating back towards the singularity. As humans, Love is what bonds, unites, and drives us.
Let me repeat that. Electromagnetism and gravity are not two separate forces. They are simply the motion that you will into existence by gravitating towards form. The will is most like electricity, this is why you can see its influence within many lifeforms, such as trees, who will themselves up towards the sky in hopes of revelation from the Sun.
https://youtu.be/gn4keBuPS54
Watching your life is like watching Lightning in slow motion. All the little seeker paths fill the aether, some of the biggest of which are coming from the ground AND the sky! The beginning knows where the end is. Then once a connection to Infinity is established a flash of revelation occurs; and what is life but a flash revelation?
Now remember, the origin of the will appears prior to the intellectual mind, and prior to even the body, prior to thought too. Try and get to the point where you can see your inner states in terms of a bar magnet. Is there attraction or repulsion?
Notice how repulsion implies attraction and vice-versa. To push is to pull. If you have pushed, you will feel the pull back. If you pull, you will be pushed back.
Balance attraction with repulsion. Balance repulsion with attraction. Peace of mind is key. The more you are able to do this the higher your awareness becomes.

This is actually incorrect.
"Bodies die all the time" is your dream. No body has ever died -- you are imagining they did.
But this requires a level of consciousness which few of you here comprehend.
If you are deeply conscious enough, there literally is no such thing as death. Will this help you at the human level? No. Not at your level of consciousness. You are stuck in a dream, and your dream involves the death and suffering of bodies. But actually none of this has absolute reality. It is an elaborate illusion which you call life. And your mind clings to it.
Have you never died in your dreams? What happens?
Death is a dream. The reason this doesn't help you is because you're dreaming and terrified of the dream ending.
All this may should theoretical, but actually it is the opposite. Death is theoretical.
If you were conscious enough nothing could kill you. But you are not conscious enough, so you will die, cause that is your dream.
Realizing this is the whole point of spirituality. But it requires levels of consciousness which almost no one is capable of. From the POV of your current state of consciousness, you will die. But only from that limited POV.
As much as it might pain you to hear this, but terminal illness is still a dream. You cannot escape the fact that you're dream just by dreaming up something horrible. The most horrible shit in the world is still nothing but a dream. In fact, this is where you find salvation.
Notice that what I'm saying is actually very positive: death isn't real. And what materialism and the ego says is very negative: death is real. And yet people get upset when told the positive news that death isn't real. The reason this twisted reaction occurs is because the mind is so attached to dreaming that it would rather die a real death than admit that everything is a dream. It has to be that way because this is how your mind constructs reality. If you didn't honestly, fully believe that death is real, you could not have reality as you know it. Once you realize death is an illusion, all of reality falls apart and nothing at all matters. And this is what you're really terrified of, perhaps even more than death itself. You are terrified of losing the construction we call material reality.
The highest levels of awakening are so conscious that you are too conscious for even reincarnation because even that is realized to be a dream. At the highest levels of consciousness there is no past or future. There is only Absolute Now, which never ends. But this is not something your mind can comprehend or imagine unless you directly experience it. An integral part of what it means to be human is to be incapable of letting go of the imagination of your death. If you stopped imagining your death, you would stop being human and you would become immortal. But you are not conscious enough to do this through your will power. Hence you are stuck inside the human dream and you will remain stuck until some day you break out of it. This breakout will either happen via awakening or what you call death.
Yes, all this feels like a slap in the face to your mind because your mind needs to believe that suffering is real. Telling the mind that all suffering is just a dream, does not please the mind at all. Even though this is the greatest news. The mind is in the business of dreaming, not Truth. The quickest way to piss someone off is to invalidate all their suffering by telling them it's imaginary. That being pissed off reaction is the defense mechanism against Truth. Truth is much more radical than people expect, so they are not capable of accepting it. This is the very core of how selfishness works. The finite self cannot accept itself as an illusion.

Awakening is the end of the personalized experience of "I am here" "I am witnessing" "I am real" & "I need to know THIS".
What apparently happens is the "sense of being a someone" dissolves and then there's just BOOM, an explosion of light, color and sound, seemingly empty & simultaneously full, but for nobody!
Immediately empty of meaning and purpose & yet full of phenomenon.
Liberation isn't freedom for a "someone" to experiences or attain, it's just pure freedom realized as having always been the case.
And since it's already the case, there isn't a real need or a real "someone" in which could make what's already happening, happen.
It ends up being an indescribable non-happening or unbecoming!
Enlightenment isn't the end of the apparent physical phenomena, it's the end of the needy "individual" experiencing separation and lack.
It's the end of the "someone" which never actually existed!
It's the end of the "truth seeker" that so desperately wants to know How & Why.
It's even the end of the concept of infinity because there is nothing and no one for something to be infinite for!
The cosmic joke of so-called enlightenment is that when it seems to occur, nothing actually did!
It's just what seems to be happening THIS.
 
❤ 
 
 
 
 

Great insight of the ego but I argue that part. As the ego is disconnected, reality does not shatter, only the narrative of the ego that veils reality deconstructs. what happens is that you are getting into something incredible. First, unlimited emptiness. terribly absence of ego. then in that emptiness something manifests. you see from its unfathomable depths springs the source of existence, pure, sacred. an endless spring of perfect goodness, illogical absence of limits that makes you kneel bathed in tears for the purity that you witness  . then you don't see that anymore, you become it. then the thing becomes inexplicable because it is absolute. you are and you are absolute. there is nothing with which you can contrast yourself. there is nothing outside. there is no outside or inside, it is not two, but neither is it one, since one is in contrast to many. it is absolute and it is power. it is omnipotence , and was too strange 
how is possible that madness that is reality? I don't know, but if you carefully observe the reality of the ego, the conclusion is that it couldn't be otherwise. existence exists. mystery
 

Can confirm this works, my set up is:
- Wotofo Profile PS Dual Mesh RDA 28.5mm
- Geekvape Aegis Solo 100W Mod
- AW 18650 25T 2500mAh Battery
- Vandy Vape Mesh Wire 
- Wire Type: SS316L Mesh Wire 150
- Extra Long Glass & Stainless Steel Wide Bore Drip Tip(GLS005)
 
Set solo mod in to standard power setting. I vape at 11 to 12 watts depending on how much DMT is loaded. Different wire types, RDA, and volume of DMT will dictate wattage requirements.
 

I have often heard it say, oh your identity is your beliefs, and this is true. But I just had an awakening (sober so you can call it an insight) that this is too confusing. I believe that you should look for the simplest map to understanding and it suddenly came to me and it blew my mind. I finally am able to see clearly through the illusion and it was so simple.
Thought= Identity. You don't have to take a notebook out and try to rack your brain to figure out what your beliefs and identities are, that is too complicated. Make it simple, all thought is identity. Its that simple. So any thought, any story, any exploration= identity. Its not you. Its part of you but its not you. An identity/perspective is just there to serve you, nothing more nothing less.  So anytime a thought arises realize its not you, its an identity, its your Survival A.I., your assistant trying to decode or interpret what's going on. Its the inner critic, the narrator, of all experience. But its not you. You can only suffer identity as long as you believe any thought is you. All thought is just an assistant along for the ride.
So what is you? Its simple!! Its so simple and so profound! We have been stating it but its so freaking obvious!!! You are the feeling of love. That's it!!! When you are kind to others you expand, when you are kind to yourself you expand. You only feel pain when you hurt another....because its not another...its YOU!!! Your heart your entire life has been trying to tell you this!! But then your thought comes in and translates the pain you feel when you act unlovingly and calls it shame, guilt, etc. You have never felt shame or guilt, because the heart does not judge!!! The heart never speaks in labels!!! The heart speaks in sensations and its the Survival A.I., the critic, the narrator, that calls it shame, and guilt!! This is a trap!!! You have never felt shame or guilt!!! All you experience is pain/fear or love!!! Everything else again is just the identity game of labels. You can get lost in a seas of concept and labels, which have no meaning. All meaning comes from love. 
So the key to finding yourself is through your heart, that which speaks through sensation!!! The logical mind is just an assistant to help guide you, but what you are is the heart, the love that exudes within. So how to not suffer your thoughts, or perspective/beliefs? Recognize they were never you, they are the part but not the whole, the whole is the heart. Once you realize this, you become free from the prison of the ego, the prison of thought, the prison of beliefs/concepts. 
Your thought is the advisor of the heart, you have been raised to have it be the ruler, to imprison the heart and so you suffer. But the problem is we demonize the ego in spirituality which is A TRAP. All demonization is lies, nothing is bad or evil. The only identity is love, anything else is a mask, a cosplay. So observe your thoughts, acknowledge them, but recognize they are not you.
Example: There is something tasty that you want to grab.  Thought "I want to eat that." Recognize "That thought is not me." Focus on your feeling/intuition. Is this what you love and want to experience? Once you are able to decode your love properly then choose/decide based on that. Its simple, this is the proper map for a healthy relationship with all the parts of you that interact.

@DoTheWork 
First, recognize that it's ego that wants to rid itself of itself.  Getting rid of the ego is the biggest ego trip going. 
But, IF the ego really wants to 'cease' to identify as thoughts, it should recognize that that's all the ego is... thoughts. 
As you stated, you still think of yourself as 'the thinker of your thoughts', when the reality is, 'you' are just thoughts. 
This partially has to do with the way organisms use and process language. The organism @DoTheWork has created an imaginary 'self' in addition to 'thinking'. 
For example, consider when we say things like, 'I am thinking about something', we tend to regard 'thinking' as something the ego is 'doing'. 'I am doing that.' 'I am authoring these thoughts.'. But notice that we don't tend to think this same way when we say things like, 'I am growing hair.'   It's easy to see that 'growing hair' is something organisms do automatically, without some separate 'grower', in addition to 'growing', that exists somewhere inside the organism. 
When an organism considers this, it might recognize that what it continually mistakes to be 'the thinker of thoughts', is just more thoughts.. and what the 'thinker of thoughts' ACTUALLY is, is the entire Universe.. the same way a wave is created by the entire ocean.  There is no 'waver of waves' in the ocean somewhere, waving waves. 
If your organism keeps reminding itself of this, eventually it may begin to see itself as the entire Universe, marveling at it's own mystery through your eyes. 
 
'

Ego Death is the most liberating experience because it is symbolic. In reality you experience death all the time. Death is the end of identification. So for example if you identify with being employed and you become unemployed you just experienced death. If you identify with being young and you become old you just experienced death. If you identify with being human, when you cease to be human you died. But if you have no limited identity then you never die.
You can test this out for yourself. Try to do something you believe you are not capable of accomplishing and notice the fear you feel. Its the same fear, of annihilation. To go beyond your self image of yourself, you must first kill the image you have of yourself.
Ego Death teaches you that all fear is illusion. Its a fun illusion. I have been saying on this forum for a long time. YOU LOVE YOUR FEAR. Fear provides you with meaning, and helps you to maintain your persona, the personality you have taken on. The genius of life is apparent...if you pay attention.

A trap will always be specific to the individual. Most of the traps listed above are very specific to a right-hand path of knowledge and contemplation.
I would also like to say that if one is on the direct path, yearning for nothing else but total liberation and full of what Zarathustra described as "the Great Contempt" for all mundane and earthly things, even falling into a trap could be a blessing. If there is a trap in this particular path it is thinking that falling into a trap is a problem. Naturally, this is a dangerous teaching to the earthly individual but... sometimes patience is dangerous too!
Embrace misery and it may lead you to the ultimate Mystery!

Transmissions by someone live and which are one on one are usually more powerful, but transmissions on YouTube can work too.
 
1. Kai Shanti
She channels God's Love and Grace and Kundalini Shakti and also sometimes speaks an intuitive light language.
Her transmissions had a huge impact on me. I can feel the transmissions and sometimes it gets intense.
Since being exposed to several of her transmissions, my normal meditations have become deeper, it's easier to surrender and I have deeper Love awakenings.
 
2. Ethan from Everything Explained
It works!!
He is also on the forum, @Synchronicity.
You gotta check out his other YouTube videos too. Ethan has a very interesting talent, it's like the ultimate siddhi, he explains it in this Thread.
 
3. Into The Unknown
Love transmission ❤
He is on the forum as well,  @Mu_.
It's worth checking out his YouTube channel!!!
 
4. Siddhanta Yoga
Most of her transmissions are pure kundalini transmissions like this:
But she also has other transmissions.
When I energetically connect with her hand movements, I can feel their impact on me (subtly).
 
5. Jan Esmann
 
6. The Enlightened Way
 
7.  Mariella La Cunza
Quite interesting transmissions.
 
8. Trigram Healing
 
 
 
Transmissions usually have both an immediate / short term and a (usually subtle or very subtle) gradual long-term effect. 
 
2 years ago, I probably wouldn't have felt the immediate effects of transmissions. 
How well transmissions work mainly depends on your receptivity and sensitivity.
 
Do you know of any good YouTube transmissions?

All spiritual entities (spirits) from all religions exist on the astral. It is possible to invoke them, that means to summon them and energetically merge with them. This can result in huge personal and spiritual growth.
The main benefit comes from the huge amount of divine energy that floods your system.
Benefits of that:
increase in void and pure consciousness dimension (enlightenment) kundalini awakening  opening of your psychic senses and improving intuition  activating psychic abilities  cleansing and purifying your energy body, opening and energizing your chakras increasing the frequency of your whole being (far more profound than what new agers call higher frequency) very strong aura (the benefits of that are, more healthy, charming, magnetic, attractive, confident...) For the last 5 points, there is hardly any competitive practice that is even remotely as effective as invocation.
And the second benefit is that you can gradually gain the powers of these entities, which mainly means that your manifestation abilities will increase (as well as your magickal authority). From a mathematical perspective, you could view any kind of ability or skill as information in your non-physical body. By merging with spirits, you kind of make a copy of that information into your non-physical body. But this is a very gradual process and can take very long. 
 
- 1. Magick 
Most people who contact spirits do this to ask them to help them manifest their desires. This is called magick. Using supernatural means to manifest your desires. And that essentially also includes all religious people who pray to gods. All of them do magick, usually in a very ineffective way.
This post is not about magick, but if you are interested in that, then check out the "Words of Power" books by Damon Brand. The technique is simple and effective. And far more powerful than any law of attraction technique. "Angelic Sigils Keys and Calls" by Ben Woodcroft is also good. Start with these. There are plenty more such books.  
Obviously, the more advanced you are, the more effective these techniques/rituals will be. But even a beginner can get very surprising results, if he does the ritual properly. 
 
 
- 2. Invocation vs other energetic practices 
Now I put Transmissions and invocation into the same category and contrast it to other energetic practcies like kriya/kundalini yoga, qi gong, sexual practices,...
The differences are:
the amount of energy. Once you are skilled at invocation, none of these other energetic practices can even remotely compare with that amount of energy Divine energy. The energy of transmissions and invocation has a much higher frequency, which results in more significant transformation, including transformation on more sublte levels. This divine energy can also be considered intelligent and can keep working (more or less) in your system after the meditation session.  
- 3. Transmissions vs Invocation 
The effect of transmissions and invocations is very similar. Transmissions are basically invocations of certain energies, and someone else is doing the invocation for you.
Generally, transmissions are far more effective for most people. Only when you are very energetically sensitive and advanced, do invocations become really powerful and can beat transmissions.
But strictly for enlightenment, even once you are advanced, transmissions might be more effective (because these are energies specifically for enlightenment).
Generally the benefit of invocation is that there is much more diversity. If for example you want to gain the ability to lucid dream, transmissions won't do anything, but invoking an angel related to lucid dreaming, can be effective.  
And when you are in close contact with these entities, you can ask them for guidance and that they help you manifest your desires (magick).
 
- 4. Astral Perception 
Usually astral perception has 2 components:
psychic senses  vividness of you imagination (visual, audirory,...) So when there is a sprit before you, you use your psychic senses to take in the data (how the spirit looks, what it is like,...), and then your mind translates that data into imaginations, so that your ego self can better make sense of it.
The more open your psychic sense, the more accurate your astral perception. And the more vivid your imagination skills, the more vivid your astral perception.
When your psychic senses are not open, your mind will help, according to what you consciously or subconsciously expect to perceive.
So if you are a beginner and summon an angel, then what you perceive might be the product of 10% accurate perception and 90% mental projection. 
When you are very advanced it might be 80% accurate perception and 20% mental projection. 
If you search for it, you will find reports where 2 or more very advanced practitioners summon a spirit, and all of them astrally see and hear the same.
However, seeing the spirit is pretty unimportant. Being able to telepathically or astral-verbally communicate with it can be useful, but for the purpose of this post, by far the most important is to be able to be affected by the spirit's energy. And I find this to be far easier than other types of astral perception.
 
- 5. Kinds of entities
Angels: They are relatively easy to summon (with the right technique), and in my experience invoking angels results in a lot more energy than from any other kind of entitiy.
You can also invoke gods. Though this is more difficult and advanced. 
And ascended mastets can also be invoked. Particularly if you are interested in enlightenment. 
There are many other kinds of spiritual entities, but these 3 are the ones I recommend most.
 
 
- 6. Keys to Invocation
6.1 Technique
You can just call the name of the entity or pray, and that works if you are advanced, but using a good technique is far more effective. 
You need something that energetically connects you to the spirit.
This is usually the sigil of the entity. A sigil is usually the name of the angel in a special language (eg angelic language) or just a symbol, which acts kinda like a telephone number to the spirit.
For angels, there are usually books with their sigils. 
Some gods have sigils too but most don't.  In that case you can maybe use a picture of a statue or painting of the god. For ascended masters you can often find an actual foto.
The invocation procedure might look something like that:
glance at the sigil + repeating the spirit's name + trying to connect with the spirit  Say something like " ... I ask to invoke you / to merge with you" or just have that intent visualise how the spirit enters your body, or superimposes over your body. Now you can do two different things, either visualize how the spirit  becomes you, or how you become the spirit. Or both at once. At that point you can visualize how you are that spirit. For example visualize how you have a different hair color, or wings. If you are bold you can also declare yourself as the spirit (" I am ...." ), be careful with that though. Keep doing that. keep repeating the name (mentally or verbally), and pretend like you are the spirit. Try to be affected by all of its energy and power. Say "thank you", feel sincere gratitude, offer that gratitude to the spirit, and say goodbye.  
-  6.2 Open psychic senses
The second key to immersive invocation is having open psychic sense. The more open your psychic senses, the more immersive the invocation (it's one factor).
It's not important to psyically see the spirit. (I usually see nothing, sometimes vague colors).
But your psychic abilities are needed to contact and to strongly bring that spirit into your aura. Most important for invocation is your energetic sensititvity though. 
When you do the technique to summon a spirit properly, then it usually is present, whether you can perceive it or not. Just pretend like it's there. (even if your psychic senses are not much open).
How to open your psychic senses (in general) :
The most effective way to open psychic senses is by doing invocations, particularly "massive invocations" (more on that later) and invocations of spirits that have the power of opening your psychic sense. Such angels are for example Raziel, Ublisi, Yeyizel, Kasphuia and Gabriel. I recommend invoking them directly one after the other, in one meditation, every day. Maybe 2 min for each, depending on how much time you have. And spending more time on one angel, I recommend Raziel.
I also recommend regularly invoking Raziel, and asking for the ability to easily contact and connect with spirits. Then visualize/conceptualize and pretend having that ability, while continuing to invoke Raziel.
Mepsitahl can also open psychic senses. And if you wanna work with gods, Hekate would be a good choice (beginners careful). As for ascended masters, everyone who had psychic abilities, like Jesus, Babaji, Vallalar, Krishna,...
- more on energetic sensitivity 
It's kind of a sub-category of psychic senses.
The more energetically sensitive you are, the more you can be affected by the spirit's energy, and the more energetic you become. Until you kinda feel like electro from spiderman.
Practices that increase your energetic sensitivity (ranked by potency):
Simultaneous invocation. Invoking many ascended masters OR angels at once. (I usually don't mix different groups of spirits). This is difficult. Usually only realistic once you have good psychic skills and have already forged a connection with each of the spirits. Sometimes I invoke over 100 angels at once. It's a lot of energy, but not massively more than invoking only one spirit. Because when invoking only one, you can focus in on that one, and invoke more of it. When invoking many, you kinda can invoke each spirit only shallowly. Still it has a quite interesting, and subtly different effect. (btw you can make sigils for angel groups). Massive invocations: Invoking many spirits, one after the other, without breaks. (I don't recommend doing that with God's. It's too risky to come off as disrespectful. With angels, just be sure to be very respectful and only do it if your intuition says so). I sometimes invoke hundreds of angels in one meditaion session (which can sometimes take up to 4 hours).  This produces massive amounts of energy, it can get very intense and overwhelming. The sheer amount of energy can also induce the void state. I felt close many times. I recommend spending anywhere from 10 seconds to 4 minutes per angel. Looking at the sigil, repeating its name, trying to merge with it. Before going to the next angel, say thank you, or say the angel's name another time while feeling gratitude. (Once you are through all angels, spend a good time in the after effect. Just surrender). You can take any of the angel books and just go from page to page.  Generally a beginner wouldn't do that. But if you are very hard-core or frustrated because you can't feel the energy no matter what you do, then do this for 1+ hour (and report how it went :D). Once you are more advanced and don't need the sigil as much, you can do the meditation with eyes closed, for me this builds more energy. Transmissions.  That's the easiest way because the transmission giver is doing most of it for you. For that purpose I'd recommend shaktipat and SAT. kriya supreme fire (kundalini yoga technique). (It can also be a nice idea do do one round right before any invocation meditation session) normal invocations  Looking at the sigils from the book "Magickal Destiny" by Damon Brand As mentioned previously, in my experience, invoking angels is a lot more energetic than invoking other spirts. The best are the angels of omnipotence (book by Jareth Tempest), IME. (But they might not be as save as other angels. Some people report disruptive and tough effects from working with them. The author of the book explains why that is, and how to work with them properly. They are one of my favourite angels, but maybe not for beginners). Next are the archangels, invoking them is also quite powerful.
Generally when you invoke a lot of angels, just be aware that you are summoning very powerful beings. And they might get active in your life (even without you explicitly asking them, because you are INVOKING them) (usually it's subtle, but sometimes it can be dramatic), usually to improve your life, to help you manifest your dreams but if you cling to the old, and are not willing to tear down the old, in order to build the new, then it can get tough. Ascended masters are more gentle (angels are gentle too, but if you invoke a lot, then it can potentially become explosive). As for gods, they usually don't give much of a fuck for your petty comfort. If you summon them, be ready for change.
Also be aware that invoking many many spirits in one meditation session is kind of cutting edge. The only place where I read about something similar is the Shem Operation In Damien Echols' Archangel book. Possible effects are not researched. Traditional occultists would probably call me insane and reckless lol.
 
 
- 6.3 Trance
The third key is being in a deep trance. The deeper your trance, the more immersive and "real" and "vivid" the invocation. The ultimate goal would here be, to go so deep into trance that your body is asleep. Here invocation can become extremely immersive. As you probably know, it's quite easy to perceive spirits during sleep paralysis. During such a deep trance you might wanna be a bit careful to not have it turn into possession (more on that later).
How to improve your trance skills:
conventional trance meditation (I posted some tips in my sleep yoga thread) hypnosis binaural beats tiredness and sleep deprivation  and most powerfully of course: Sleep Yoga  
 
 
- 7. Psychedelics 
You can also do invocation while taking psychedelics (or weed). That would ramp it up significantly. Only for very advanced people though. If you are interested in that, @Matt8800 has some posts about it in his Occultism Thread.
I experimented with weed a few times, and yeah it ramps things up. But it's easy to lose control. 
 
- 8. Invocation vs Possession
Theoretically, full immersive invocation can turn into possession, but usually only, if all of the following conditions apply:
you have very open psychic sense you are in a very deep trance  you want to be possessed the spirit wants to possess you (If you take psychedelics, possession is a lot easier).
Some people want to achieve a temporary possession (usually 5-30 min) because then the spirit might be able to affect you more, and change you more. But this is a difficult thing to achieve, so don't worry too much of it accidentally happening to you.
I don't recommend possession. In my opinion, the kind of invocation that I've talked about, where you maintain control, can be just as powerful for transformation, if done right.
Even if you wanted to achieve possession, it would be difficult, even if you had the psychic and trance skills, because most angels won't do it, and ascended masters even less. It's usually only some gods and demons who might be willing to do it. And parasitic entities.
So all of that applies to the kind of hollywood possession. 
There is however also a more subtle form of possession. Where they don't enter your body and take over, rather only subtly influence and affect your mind.
This is mostly from parasitic entities, and demons, sometimes also gods, and very rarely angels. With ascended masters you are pretty much completely safe.
From what I know pretty much everyone on earth is affected by astral entities to some extend . The astral plane is full of life, obviously there are some interested in humans. The ones I'm talking about are mostly parasitic entities that try to cause emotional outbursts in people so they can then feed on that energy. 
So the issue with being affected by astral entities exists anyway. Whether you intentionally summon spirits or not. If you start working with spirits and are not careful, this kind of being affected by spirits can increase a lot. Hence the warning. But if you are careful, then it can actually decrease the amount of involuntarily being affected. 
Recommendations:
Stick with angels and ascended masters do regular banishings (not banishing the angels or ascended masters. But doing general banishings that banish everything that doesn' have your best interests at heart.) Ask for protection. For example archangel Michael. If you are serious, get the book magickal protection from Damon Brand and angelic protection from Ben Woodcroft.   
 
- 9. Respect
When working with any spirit, I recommend to behave neither inferior nor superior.
Both of you equally have the spark of God. But the spirit is much more evolved and powerful. That doesn't mean that you are inferior, but that you must approach it with much respect.
If you meet Elon Musk you will treat him much differently than a random dude. You don't bow down to him, you don't have a slave status or less voting power or similar bs, you both are equal, but you recognize that he is a big dude, therefore you treat him with respect. 
Therefore I also don't recommend bowing down. Or worshipping. Or begging. Definitely don't beg, even angels will think you are pathetic if you beg. If you don't think you are worth contacting them, then neither will they.
If you come off as disrespectful or superior, you essentially give full permission to the spirit to fuck you up.
It's a fine balance. Hence working with gods might not be for beginners.
As for bhakti yoga, I think it is fine to bow down and be submissive to ascended masters, if you are a bhakti yogi. Ascended masters are selfless so it's no problem. Angels and gods are no saints. Most gods would probably take advantage of you if you approach them as being submissive (mainly by taking some of your energy, which is not necessarily very bad. It probably happens to all religious people who worship gods (rather than God) anyway).
IMO, It is important to keep your sovereignty. You are your own master. You are independent and free, and no one has power over you. I recommend having that attitude, especially if you spend many hours a day in invocation. If you are working a lot with a god, and handing over your power to the god, then it might just take advantage of it. Probably not, but better safe than sorry.
 
- 10. Magickal Authority
The greater your magickal authority, the more you are respected by spirits, and the more willing they become to work with you.
Generally, the more spiritually evolved, and the stronger you are psychically, and the more enlightened that you are, the more magickal authority you have. But more important is having experience.  The more time you've spent with spirits, the greater your authority. 
Also by invoking spirits that have authority over other spirits (like most gods, particularly Hekate, or higher ranking angels) you kind of gain their authority too. But that doesn't happen over night.
To temporarily increase your authority for a specific invocation or ritual, you can ask or call upon spirits that have authority.
Don't do this when contacting ascended masters or gods. Only with angels. And it's not necessary. But it can make them more willing to help you.
Traditionally occultists call upon the god of the old testament to gain authority over angels. They say something like "In the names of Ell, Ell Shadai, Adonai, Adiriron,... I call upon you [name of angel]". It works. If you want you can do that. I've done something similar for some time, but I'm not comfortable using the names of the god of the old testament anymore (gnostics have some suspicions about that god).
So usually, before a long invocation session, I first become conscious of my connection with Source, seeing me and every spirit as one with Source/God. Then I invoke The Monad, Sophia and Christ (from Gnosticism), and then my Higher Self.
But really all of this is not very important. You don't need to do that.
If you are bold you could also call upon them by saying something like "by the power and in the name of myself [insert your name] I summon you ...".
 
- 11. Offerings
When working with angels and ascended masters, giving offerings of gratitude (sincerely feeling grateful) to them is enough. 
When working with gods I recommend making occasional offerings. That can be: lighting a candle, incense, water, alcohol, food, singing a song, poetry, ...
They can consume the non-physical components of the offering.
Different gods have different preferences, do some research. But generally, water, candle, incense, and fruits, rubbing your hands together and offering the heat and energy released are pretty universally accepted. wine is also popular I guess.
Physical offerings are best left in nature some time (even days if you like) after giving it.
If you use a glass to give liquid offerings, then that glass from now on should only be used for that purpose.
If you are interested in making formal or general offerings to many groups of spirits, in Jason Miller's book Sorcerer's Secrets is a good ritual.
 
 
- 12. Ego trip
Invoking angels and gods and pretending to temporarily be them (during meditation) can lead to big ego trips. So be sure to balance these practices with a good dose of no self awareness.
 
 
- 13. Books
Practical books for contacting angels, books by:
Damon Brand  Ben Woodcroft  Tristan Whitespire Jareth Tempest If you buy only one book, then it's "angelic sigils keys and calls" by Ben Woodcroft. 
If you are interested in invocation, then Damien Echols Archangel book could be interesting. Just read the last few chapters. Very inspiring. He has a different approach but that doesn't matter.
(and do legally buy them. Some books might have protection spells on them that they only work with full effectiveness if you bought the book. I think that applies to Damon Brand's books. I guess most other books don't have that. )
 
- 14. Progress 
When I started I felt nothing. I've spent over 1000 hours in contact with spirits (including attempted contact lol). Maybe 400 hours of that has been in effective invocation. 
Now, when I summon a spirit, I almost instantly feel the energy, which then alters my state of consciousness. When I do long invocations, it gets extremely energetic and intense. It's undeniably real. And the personal and spiritual growth has been IMMENSE.
I think my progress was quicker than it would be for the average practitioner, because I'm naturally empathic and energetically sensitive, and my approach has been hard-core.  Constantly searching for better ways, trying to make it more powerful, never satisfied.
If you keep practicing you will most likely eventually make huge growth through invocation. But the first couple of hundred hours might be tough, just as with learning any skill. You can speed things up by using the more potent versions that I've shared. 
Generally Invocation is an advanved practice. 
In case working with spirits and invocation resonates with you, I recommend getting transmissions to easily increase your energetic sensitivity, and to contact angels to help you manifest your desires, so you get familiar with this stuff. Doing this (magick) will also improve your skills, but a lot less than actual invocation.
If you are hard-core, you can start straight with "massive invocations".
 

This is an important topic that I feel qualified to talk about as I studied Buddhism and the concept of suffering in Buddhism. 
So, Why Does Life Suck? Have you noticed yet that suffering and misery is inseparable part of life ? And if you haven't ,don't worry, you are for a rude awakening as you grow up and gain experience.  This wisdom goes back 5000 years in the Buddha's teaching "life is suffering "  .
But why ? Why does life suck fundamentally?  According to Buddhism its because of your desires and cravings. 
There are so many more things that make life so hard. It also feels like they come in waves. one bad thing happens, and then they keep coming, like the world wants to kick you when you are down.
So why does life suck sometimes? There are times when it has nothing to do with you, how hard you are trying in life, or how good of a person you are. Life gets hard, bad things happen, and sometimes it just plain sucks.
The fact that life sucks sometimes is never going to stop because life is filled with challenges and difficult moments that we simply can’t avoid. Even if you had unlimited money, fame, or fortune, you wouldn’t be able to avoid the inevitable difficulties.
The Good News:
If life is always going to suck, and adversity is always going to be coming for you, you can’t control that.
So stop trying. You can’t control anything in this world except your reactions. It’s time to stop focusing on the suck and begin focusing on the good in your life. Life is all about perspective, and perhaps right now you are choosing to obsess about the negative, the lack, the suck.
This is addictive because we are biologically programmed to do so, to assess all situations for danger through the negativity bias.
We are biologically programmed to focus on negativity because it keeps us safe and forces us to avoid things that may cause us harm or discomfort. We have evolved since the days of constant physical threats coming from wild animals or ominous sounds, but our survival instincts have remained intact. Because of this, we focus on the negative, and we now have to learn how to fight with the feelings that naturally arise from this.
The First Noble Truth in Buddhism is the idea that everyone suffers and that suffering is part of the world. Buddhists believe in the cycle of samsara, which is the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. This means that people will experience suffering many times over. All of the things a person goes through in life cause suffering and they cannot do anything about it. Instead, they have to accept that it is there. People may use temporary solutions to end suffering, such as doing something they enjoy. However, this does not last forever and the suffering can come back when the enjoyment ends. Buddhists want to work to try to stop suffering. However, the first step is to acknowledge that there is suffering :it happens and it exists.
The Second Noble Truth is the concept that something causes suffering to happen. For example, when a person is ill, they can only end the illness by understanding the cause. To do this, they may go to see a doctor, who may be able to diagnose the problem. This enables them to begin to understand the cause of their suffering.
Similarly, the Buddha taught that people need to understand the cause of suffering in order to move forward and leave it behind. The Buddha believed that most suffering is caused by a tendency to crave or desire things. A person might crave something nice to eat or desire to go on a nice holiday or earn lots of money. Buddhism teaches that through being dissatisfied with their lives and craving things, people suffer.
If a Buddhist wants to end suffering, they should search for ways to avoid ignorance, hatred and cravings. If they can do this then they will become free from samsara and reach enlightenment.
The Third Noble Truth is knowing that suffering can end. Buddhists must recognise that there is a way to stop suffering and move away from it, because by doing this they can get closer to reaching enlightenment. Buddhism teaches that people should not be too focused on wanting many different things as the enjoyment won’t last. Buddhists must try to stop craving as much as they can in order to work to end suffering.
If you have any questions. Feel free to ask ? 

Magick is about causing effects with non-physical means.
Magick includes:
occult practices  law of attraction religious prayer having thoughts, emotions and intention That means everyone is doing magick all the time and thus shaping their life. It's just that it's usually a very weak form of magick.
The most powerful magick is working with spiritual entities. The simplest form of that is angelic magick. Angelic magick is far more powerful than law of attraction techniques. 
Every manifestation technique - in one way or another - essentially increases the probability of manifestation. If the inherent probability (from using materialistic/mundane means) is too low and manifestation techniques can't increase the probability enough, manifestation doesn't happen. 
 
- Law of Attraction
Law of attraction alone is in most cases not powerful enough to manifest your dreams. Law of attraction techniques are mostly about aligning your vibration/state with your dreams and clearing intenal blockages towrads your dreams.
It's like law of attraction decreases the probability of your desires not manifesting (removing internal blocks that hold you back from manifesting) but it doesn't do much in increasing the probability of manifestation (adding power).
That's where angelic magick comes in, angels add power.
You can add power yourself, and one of the best ways to do this is with servitors and thoughtforms as described in John Kreiter's books, but unless you are very advanced, angelic power is a lot stronger. 
 
- Results
Unless you are insanely advanced, the main component for manifestation is always your action. You still need to do the work.
Do everything you would do if you didn't use magick. The angels will add power to your efforts and support in more mysterious ways too.
In most cases results will be sublte. Some coincidences happen and your efforts might seem to be slightly more fruitful. Usually only when you look back after weeks or months you see how much the magick affected your life. But even then it can be subtle, definitely subtle enough that materialists will say it's just coincidence. But after months or years, all that stacks up and becomes extremely extremely statistically unlikely.
But sometimes magick is shockingly effective and can seem miraculous. Even for beginners, but in most cases it's subtle.
Generally the more psychic power you have, the more powerful your magick becomes.
 
- Ritual 
What is usually called a technique or practice, is called ritual in magick. It can mean ceremonial stuff like wearing robes and all that stuff, but that is only one form of magick, and definitely not necessary. I've never done that.
The most basic ritual includes some law of attraction stuff (to clear blockages, to ensure you are not in the way of the magick) and then calling upon angels to add power.
So it usually looks somewhat like this:
contemplate the problem  glance at the sigil (if there are words, scan them) feel as though your dreams are already manifest. Pretend like it's already your reality  call the angel names feel gratitude  
That's it.
In some books the ritual is more complex. If you want you can just do this simple version and it will still work, but the more stuff you add, the more powerful the ritual becomes.
A sigil usually consists of the angels' names in certain languages (hebrew, angelic language) or of symbols. The sigil acts like a gateway to the angels. By glancing at it you subconsciously connect with the angels.
 
Here some rituals which I think might be most relevant for manifesting a great life.
The name of the book is in brackets, all of them are by Damon Brand (except the "angels of omnipotence" that is by Jareth Tempest, and "sigils of power" that is by Adam Blackthorne)
 
- Opportunities and Manifestation
Road Opener (greater words of power) Bless an Undertaking (archangels of magick) Gain from Change (archangels of magick) Zachriel: stir up reality, create change (angels of alchemy) Kamael: improve the Quality of that which is sought (archangels of magick) Open the Road to new Opportunities (sigils of power) End bad Luck (words of power) End misfortune (mystical words of power)  
 
- Insights, ideas, knowing what to do
Obtain Wisdom (to make a decision) (words of power) receive Guidance (greater words of power) Ideas for Projects (mystical words of power) find Clarity when confused (mystical words of power)  
 
- Discipline
Peserverance (archangels of magick) complete a Task (greater words of power) strengthen Willpower over temptation (mystical words of power) dedicate yourself (words of power) overcome bad habits (greater words of power) Bualu (angels of omnipotence)  
 
- Love and Attraction
There are plenty of love rituals out there. Most of them manipulate or affect other people to a small or great extend. That's obviously not good. Rather than aiming magick at others, aim it at yourself. Use magick to become more attractive, and to support your efforts to become more attractive:
Attract through inner Light (mystical words of power) Amiel: become more Charming and Attractive (angels of alchemy) increase Confidence (greater words of power) strengthen personal Confidence (mystical words of power) Tulatu (angels of omnipotence) And you can also do magick to cause syncronicities to meet potential partners:
Attract a Romantic Partner (with the intention to meet a potential partner) (greater words of power) Attract Romance (sigils of power) You can essentially also do any of the above-mentioned rituals for opportunities and have the intention for syncronicities to meet a potential partner  
 
- Emotional
Relief from anxiety (mystical words of power) reconnect with your Soul (mystical words of power) improve intuition (mystical words of power) stop negative thoughts (mystical words of power) Lavel: ease sadness and depression (72 angels of magick) ease depression (sigils of power)  
 
- Personal Development
Uiazel (angels of omnipotence) Add Momentum to your Efforts (mystical words of power) Achieve more with less effort (mystical words of power) Recover your Passion (greater words of power) enhance Creativity (greater words of power) discover your true Passion (sigils of power) discover creative Talents (sigils of power) pass an exam (greater words of power) Learn with ease (sigils of power)  
 
- Healing
My favourites are the 5 healing rituals in mystical words of power  Raphael (archangels of magick) several angels for healing in 72 angels of magick  Ebuhuel (angels of omnipotence) It has nothing to do with angels, but this health subliminal is pretty good:   
 
- Spiritual
Uiazel: Enlightenment (angels of omnipotence) Lucid Dreaming (sigils of power) Dream Recall (sigils of power) Ublisi: Lucid Dreaming (angels of omnipotence) Ublisi: Dream Recall (angels of omnipotence) Metatron: Ascension (archangels of magick)  
 
 
There are a lot more rituals in these books.
All of the books involve angels, except the "sigils of power book", that one involves no spiritual entities.
I listed rituals mostly from the words of power books, because these rituals are quite simple and effective. But you can also look more thoroughly into the archangels of magick, 72 angels of magick and angels of alchemy books.
And there are still more books by Damon Brand. And you can also check out other authors:
Ben Woodcroft Jareth Tempest  Tristan Whitespire Zanna Blaise Adam Blackthorne Rose Manning ...  
 
Usually a ritual needs to be done only once.
But when working with one angel (like Uiazel, Metatron, Amiel) (rather than using a ritual with a group of angels) with the intention of causing internal change, then repating the ritual can be valuable in order to add additional power, to keep the energy for internal change flowing more strongly. For that purpose, you can also consider doing it more the way I described in my invocation post. Invoking that angel, sitting in its presence and having a specific intention for internal change.
These kinds of invocations are mainly for the energetic effects and the effects on your state of consciousness. And when done regularly with a certain intention, they are good for any internal change (personal development).
 
 
 
In my opinion, magick is the most powerful manifestation technique. It can make life a lot easier and better. 
I think the second most powerful manifestation technique is using Subliminals. Then next is servitors and thought forms, and next is chaos magick sigils and law of attraction stuff.
 
If someone is interested in more occult practices: 
 
 

@GreenWoods Nice post, its so detailed! I have a few questions..
Is it possible to invoke god? Or does it have to be a separate entity? I don’t mean like a christian god or deity, but god the way Leo for example uses the word. Something like absolute love, the true self, reality, etc. Although there probably is no sigil for that or anything. Maybe thats just self inquiry then.
Do you know an entity that specialises in creating simple happiness/satisfaction? Oh and one that specialises in helping to let go of old habits?

Being able to remain conscious during all sleep stages is the ultimate skill. This will open doors to almost anything.
- Introduction
When people want to have a deep meditation, they either try to:
(A) lower their brainwaves, and thus make their consciousness more non-dual. This includes techniques like: Kriya yoga, trance, hypnosis and the majority of all meditation techniques. (B) directly make their consciousness more non-dual. This includes contemplation and self inquiry.  When people try to get into lower brainwaves, they usually start from their everyday waking consciousness. This works, but it will take ages (lifetimes for most people) till you get into really deep brainwaves - even if you do very direct techniques like trance.
We already spend 8 hours each day in very deep brainwaves. Why not take advantage of that? So rather than trying to bring lower brainwaves to waking cosnciousness (tirelessly trying to lower your brainwaves during the day), we can try to bring consciousness to lower brainwaves. 
That is sleep yoga.
 
- Benefits of Sleep Yoga
All of your dreams will be lucid (2 hours each night) During the rest of the night (light and deep sleep) you can either abide in deep non-dual awareness (by far deeper than any normal meditations), or astral project as much as you like. You gain 8 hours each day (~ 3 000 hours each year) No lapse of consciousness upon physical death.  
This is obviously very significant for enlightenment. Apart from that, it will benefit you in so many ways. Merely the 2 hours of lucid dreaming each night will radically transform your psyche. Here I wrote about reasons why to bother about OBEs: 
 
- Difficulty
Monks usually require many years of training till they are able to remain conscious during sleep. It takes long because their techniques are not Fire. They usually consist of standard meditation, waking up a couple of times during the night and visualization techniques.
I've lately done a lot of research and experimenting and tried to combine all the hacks and tricks I found. This should make the process a lot quicker.
Before I get to the technique, let's first lay a foundation. (or jump to "Chapter 2: The Technique")
 
Chapter 1 : Sleep - 1. Basics
During the night you go through several sleep cycles, each around 90 minutes long. Sleep cycles consists of:
- N1( light sleep). Only when falling asleep.
- N2 (light sleep):
Usually around 50-60% of your sleep. N2 is the ideal sleep stage to wake up from - N3 (deep sleep = SWS = slow wave sleep):
Important for regeneration Around 20-25 % of your sleep. You need typically 60-120 minutes of SWS. defined as having more than 20% of delta brain waves.  Majority of SWS during your first few sleep cycles - REM  (rapid eye movement) :
Here you have most of your dreams brainwaves somewhat similar to your waking state sleep paralysis so you don't act out your dreams 20-25% of your night  you need 60-90 min of REM As the night progresses, each sleep cycle contains more and more REM A sleep cycle usually begins with N2. Then N3 then N2 again and then REM.
 
- 2. Segmented Sleep
About polyphasic Sleep: https://www.polyphasic.net/introduction-to-polyphasic-sleep .
Segmented sleep means dividing your sleep into 2 segments: See https://www.polyphasic.net/schedules/biphasic/ and https://www.polyphasic.net/schedules/dual-core/ .
SWS peak is usually at 9-12 pm. And REM peak is at 6-9 am. Sleeping during these times means most efficient SWS and REM. More about that here: https://www.polyphasic.net/sleep-mechanics/biological-rhythms/ and here: https://www.polyphasic.net/blog/three-noons-and-their-importance-to-determining-the-shift-in-circadian-rhythms/
 
- 2.1 Benefits of segmented sleep:
Having a REM core with little or no SWS is perfect for trying to learn sleep yoga, more on that later You have a heightened likelihood for lucid dreaming during the REM core because of the high REM percentage and the long time awake after your SWS core. You basically have a very long WBTB (wake back to bed). The longer a WBTB, the more effective.  Prolactin surge benefits: https://www.mattressnerd.com/polyphasic-sleep/overviews/segmented-sleep/ If you sleep monophasically, you can't cover both SWS and REM peaks. Thus segmented sleep is more efficient. ... therefore you need less total amount of sleep Yogis say that the time at around 3-5 am is most valuable for meditation If you usually sleep 8 hours, you could schedule a 3 h SWS core and a 4.5 h REM core.
The time between the SWS and REM core should be at least 2 hours. Ideally 3-4 hours. Otherwise your body treats it as interrupted sleep rather than segmented sleep and you don't get all the benefits. More time between your cores also means that you cover more of the SWS and REM peak.
Segmented sleep is not something to do occasionally. You need to do it every night, otherwise you will just be tired and not get all the benefits. Your body needs 1-2 weeks to adapt to the schedule.
Segmented sleep is not necessary, but it can help a lot. Alternatively, you could just sleep for 4-6 hours and then either add a normal WBTB or just go straight to the techniques.
 
- 3. SWS Core
- 3.1 Binaural beats
If you listen to delta binaural beats, you increase the duration and depth (decrease the brainwave frequency even further) of your SWS. For example, in this study ( https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00387/full )   they played 3 Hz delta binaural beats when the subjects were in N2. Thus, some N2 turned into N3. The length of N3 increased by 30% (N3 length of first two nights without binaural beats was 93 min. On the next night, with binaurals, N3 was 126 min). The subjects were probably new to binaural beats. If you have already trained your brain with binaural beats, the effect could possibly be even more drastic.
Using a sleep tracking device might be helpful to keep track of your SWS.
I recommend you try the binaural beats from Jody Hatton. Either on youtube:   
or on his website. you decide the price for a download.
Sleeping with headphones might not be the most comfortable. But it can be worth it. Delta binaural beats are only interesting for your SWS core. Instead of over ear headphones, you could also use headband headphones like these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014T3QLBA/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=9td9sm-5xsk-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B014T3QLBA&linkId=82c4b0488d4ece45af2f57a9ea6427c0. they are more comfortable to sleep with. But might have lower quality.
I don't recommend opting for isochronic tones for delta sleep. They do have the benefit of not neading headphones, but they are said to be inefficient to entrain you to delta brainwaves.
- 3.2 Melatonin
Melatonin is important for SWS. How to optimize Melatonin levels:
Only red lights 2-3 hours before bed (or no light). You can buy red light. Or wear blue light blocking glasses (preferably should block green light as well) or use apps on your mobile phone and pc (for example "Flux") which filter blue light. Sleep in total darkness. Either buy something to block all light from your windows or just take a huge sheet of black carton and tape it over your window. Thats what I do. It takes around 1 minute each morning and night to tape/remove. You could also use a sleep mask. But then, a small amount of light is still registered by your skin. But that is probably negligible. enough (sun)light during the day. decalcify your pineal gland fasting can increase melatonin levels as well. - 3.3 Schedule
For our sleep yoga practice, we prefer to have all our SWS during the SWS core. So the REM core can be fully dedicated to Sleep yoga practices.
If you want to get the most out of each night, you also want to have as little light sleep and REM during your SWS core. You want these in your REM core so your REM core is longer and you have more time to practice each night (First we learn to be conscious during light sleep and REM, and only then do we try it during SWS). Depending on your personal SWS needs (which can vary a lot) and depending on how well you can optimize a sleep cycle for maximum SWS, you can choose following SWS core lengths.
6h: easy 4.5h: Healthy and comfortable  3h: for serious practitioners 1.5h: not recommended  I think you don't need to strictly schedule according to the 90 min sleep cycle rythm. You can extend it if you want.
A very unrecommended polyphasic sleep schedule - Everyman 4 : https://www.polyphasic.net/schedules/everyman/  - has only one 90 minute SWS core plus 4 short naps for REM. Someone who follows that schedule tries to get all 90 minutes of SWS requirement into the 90 minute core, which is close to impossible. For our use, if you perfectly optimized it and extended the length from 90 to 100-110 minutes, you might be able to get 70-90 min SWS into a 110 min SWS core. But beware, if you shorten your SWS core too much, you risk SWS creeping in to your REM core.
 
- 4. Core Gap
Once your body adapted to the new schedule, you won't be as tired during it After spending some minutes on my mobile phone, I'm fully awake. Make sure your devices block blue light. And I use a red light. And I also listen to gamma binaural beats. I like these: https://www.brainwave3d.com/spiritualitaet/erleuchtung/38/the-gateway-to-enlightenment-das-tor-zur-erleuchtung?c=30 and  https://www.brainwave3d.com/meditation/tiefenmeditation-fuer-profis/96/god-consciousness-gott-erleben?c=30 and  https://www.brainwave3d.com/psi-faehigkeiten/dmt/98/mystical-dmt-trip-erlebe-eine-intensive-dmt-erfahrung?c=34 (Use google translate for the website.) The "core gap" is a good time for meditative practces, just make sure you don't fall asleep. If you are likely to fall asleep during meditation, then do it right at the beginning or end of the core gap. So you still have at least 2 hours of continued wakefulness. I recommend spending a few minutes of hard-core concentration at the end of your core gap, as a preparation for your REM core practice.  
- 5. REM Core
-5.1 Basics
Your REM core should ideally consist of only light sleep and REM. Consider:
Getting enough SWS during your SWS core Having your REM core during or close after the REM peak Applying tricks for lighter sleep You will set MANY alarms which wake you up all the time, giving you plenty of opportunitues and optimal conditions to practice.
 
- 5.2 Gamma brain waves
I believe they are the key for being conscious during sleep. Monks have increased gamma acrivity during non-REM sleep: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0073417#pone-0073417-g001 .  The significance of 40 Hz for lucid dreaming:  https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.zmescience.com/medicine/mind-and-brain/lucid-dreaming-electrical-trigger-042342/amp/ . I guess, the main difference of brainwaves during sleep, between a sleep yogi and a normal person, is gamma activity. The more gamma (and beta) you have, the more alert/aware you are. So if we want to be aware during sleep, we need more gamma during sleep.
How to have more gamma during sleep:
gamma brainwave entrainment audios during sleep.   Applying the tools for having"Lighter Sleep" (more on that later) day-time meditation practices (more on that later)  
- 5.3 Schedule
If you are concerned about your sleep, then do the practices only for 1-3h, and then turn off all alarms, go back to sleep and sleep as long as your body wants. Depending on how easily you tend to fall asleep on any given day, you spontaneuosly decide for the right amount of "lighter sleep" tools.  
- 6. Lighter Sleep
- 6.1 Benefits
You are closer to the awake/asleep threshold. That means a) it is easier to retain consciousness while falling asleep and b) it is easier to stay in that state. The deeper your sleep gets, the greater the risk of losing consciousness decreased risk of SWS creeping in increased likelihood for DILDs, WILDs and DEILDs better dream recall  - 6.2 How to have lighter sleep:
- 6.2.1 Body Position:
Level1: Turn in bed 180 degrees. So your head is now where your feet used to be. Level 2: lie on the floor.  Level 3: Be in an inclined position. for example of 60 degrees. https://www.theminimalists.com/drew/  Level 4: Sleep sitting upright with head support.  Level 5: Upright with no head support. That is particularly good, because everytime you fall asleep, your head drops and wakes you up. Thus it is easier to get closer to the awake/asleep threshold. - 6.2.2 Noise
Tv or music.  listen to a hypnosis audios about falling asleep.  
- 6.2.3 Gamma brainwave entrainment:
I listen to these binaural beats during my REM Core:   https://www.iawaketechnologies.com/product/gammaburst/ . You can cutt off the beginning and end so that it's only in the relevant frequency of 25-45 Hz. I listen them during my whole REM core. Another option are these 40 Hz isochronic tones: https://www.iawaketechnologies.com/product/gamma-40/ . But I only listened to them once, I found the binaural beats more effective. But they have the advantage of not needing headphones. - 6.2.3 Discomfort.
Level 1: wearing headphones Level 2: Add any discomfort you can think of Level 3: Hold your arm up vertically. Ellbow supported on the matress. https://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-lucidity/107214-wild-awareness-training.html - 6.2.4 Alarm clocks
Level 1: Every 15-30 min. It turns itself off. So you have a lower likelihood of waking up if you are in a somewhat deeper sleep.  Level 2: Every 8-12 min. Alarm needs to be manually turned off. (you press snooze. So it will ring in a few minutes again) Level 3: Every 3-8 min. Alarm needs to be manually turned off Some alarm clock apps are able to play the alarm through your headphones only.
- 6.2.5 Light: 
Level 1: Leave on some red light Level 2: Remove your curtains from the windows just before your REM core Level 3: Turn on artificial light. Light will have a negative impact on your melatonin levels. In terms of melatonin, we are most concerned about it's effects on SWS sleep. So light after your SWS sleep is relatively fine. It is recommended that one spends 8-10 hours in darkness (or at least red light rather than blue light) each day. So if you turn off normal lighting 3 h before your SWS core, then have a 3 h SWS core, followed by a 3 h core gap, you have 9h.
- 6.2.6 Others:
Intention  uncomfortable temperature   
 
Chapter 2: The Technique Our approach consists of:
SWS Core Core Gap REM Core + Alarm Clocks  and there you practice "Conscious Falling Asleep"  
- 1. Getting yourself closer to sleep
Some tips:
Reverse Blinking. Thats very effective to get tired very quickly. Close your eyes for 2-7 seconds, then open them briefly. Continue till you are very tired. https://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-lucidity/24607-inducing-trance-wild-part-1-a.html Hypnotic suggestions/affirmations "sleepy" Concentrate on the "sleepiness" sensation and deepen it Pretend having fallen asleep  
- 2. Awake/Asleep Threshold Tools
Everything I listed under "Lighter Sleep" can be helpful to remain conscious during the awake/asleep threshold. Particularly powerful is:
Holding up your arm vertically, ellbow resting on the mattress. Sleeping sitting without head support. When you fall asleep, your arm or head will sink/fall down and wake you up.
 
- 3. Deepen your Trance
When trying to fall asleep, you are basically in trance. When you deepen your trance, you get your body closer to sleep. But apart from that it also alters your consciousness in a different way (than just using normal tips like those listed under "getting yourself closer to sleep") which can be helpful for conscious falling asleep.
- Tips for deepening your trance:
Falling sensation. Either visualize how you are somewhere else - in a visualized body - and experience a falling sensation there (literally falling, going down steps, elevator, etc...) or 'stay' with your consciousness in your physical body and visualize the falling sensation there (I personally prefer that). Try to visualize the sensation you have in your gut when being on a roller coster.  
Use Hypnosis. Here I wrote in detail about hypnosis (keep in mind, when I wrote older posts, I had less understanding):   
Use your Hypnotic Triggers. You can anchor every state of consciousness. so for example anchor being sleepy with the word "sleepy", or anchor going into a deep trance with visualizing going downstairs. Hypnotic Triggers are like key words for your subconscious that tell it what state of consciousness to produce.  
Visualize it into being. Visualize how you are in a very deep trance. Visualize having no more body sensations and being in the void. It's hard to expplain how exactly to do it, but it works.  
Visualize how you are expanding. Expand your consciousness to include your room, then house, etc. It is said that this produces more theta brainwaves   
 
Fractionation: A hypnotic induction technique. The idea is to get out of trance and then immediately go back down. If done skillfully, you will end up deeper than where you started.  One way to do it is to count from 1 to 3 (feeling how you are getting more out of trance with every number), open your eyes, count down from 3 to 1 (feeling how you are getting deeper), and closing your eyes again.  
Dissociation from the body. Some possibilities: Pretend that you are lying in bed upside down. Your head where  your feet used to be. Till you are actually convinced. The axis going from your feet to your head. Visualize turning around that axis. Like you are rolling in bed.  Visualize how you are in a visualized body in your room. Turn around and look at your physical body  
Try to induce the sensations of your body: becoming heavy.  quickly shrinking, expanding, shrinking, expanding, .... feeling strange  becoming weightless having no sensations melting with the room fading out of existence  
Completely surrender. And use some of your non-dual hypnotic triggers  
Visualize how you are in a visualized body somewhere. For example in your kitchen. Try to immerse yourself in these visualizations as much as possible. This produces deep theta brainwaves. And the more often you change your environment (particularly using doors, floors, etc) the more theta brainwaves are produced. So they say at least.  
some say looking up with your eyes to the 3rd eye helps  
Amnesia: Try to forget your body. Forget the physical universe  
Pretend like you are moving your astral arm. And you could try any OBE exit technique  
All of these could also induce an OBE. If they do, great, but their actual purpose is to help in conscious falling asleep.
 
- 4. Anchors
In order to remain conscious while your body falls asleep, it's recommended to have an anchor to focus on. (In past posts I used the word "anchor" as being a trigger for a state of consciousness. To avoid confusion, I use in this post "hypnotic trigger" for that instead). 
- Anchors:
any mantra works but for our purpose I would use sth like "mind awake, body asleep" so you also benefit from its affirmative effect. Awareness itself. just try to remain conscious Any trance deepeners The True Self Hypnagogic images or sounds counting your breath chakras any sensations  visualizations  
- 5. FILD
Finger induced Lucid Dreaming. It is usually used as a form of DEILD (or WILD) in order to induce a lucid dream. The technique is very effective at keeping you awake while your body falls asleep. Lucid dreamers use it to lucid dream, but we can just as well use it for general conscious falling asleep. I actually believe that this might be the key for conscious falling asleep (in combination with the other points I wrote).
You alternate slightly moving your middle and index finger of one hand. As if playing piano. The movement must be extremely tiny. Just keep doing it and decrease the range of motion. Eventually your fingers shouldn't be moving any more at all (or only less than a millimeter). But the information to move is still delivered to your fingers. The tendons and muscles might be moving or tensing slightly. You find more detailed tutorials on the internet, like:  https://www.dreamviews.com/induction-techniques/36683-finger-induced-lucid-dream-fild.html And on reddit are countless FILD threads as well, including impressive success stories.
You could say FILD, is just another anchor. But I believe it is more powerful than other anchors. Actually moving a body part seems to keep the mind more awake (perhaps by activating an additional/different brain region). And the movement is so tiny that it doesn't prevent your body from falling asleep.
For the purpose of lucid dreaming, FILD is usually only done for 20-120 seconds (then you should just fall asleep and try later again). But we will just keep wiggling until we made the transition.
 
- 6. Reviewing the keys
The following points are the most significant. Most monks are not aware of them, that's why we can achieve sleep yoga quicker.
REM core without SWS MANY alarm clocks Gamma brainwave training Reverse Blinking  awake/asleep threshold tools (hand up, sitting + no head support) Trance deepeners FILD   
Our goal is that the body falls asleep, while retaining consciousness. For that to happen the body must be tired (which is achieved by the many alarm clocks, when they wake you up, your body is still in sleep mode and wants to return as quickly as possible. And by reverse blinking, trance deepeners and by sleep deprivation, in case you end up being sleep deprived) while your mind must be alert (which is achieved through the "lighter sleep" tools and anchors). To achieve that, some astral projectors, would go for one night without sleep (body tired) and then trink coffee (mind alert) before going to sleep the next day.
 
- 7.  Simplified Technique Overview
Upon waking you do either of these (or a combination):
Just try to remain conscious while your body falls asleep awake/asleep threshold tools Trance deepeners focus on anchors FILD  
- 8. Tips 
You can also experiment with using strong intention. Jus don't allow your mind to fall asleep.  You need balance between concentrating too tightly and too loosely If you notice you are about to lose consciousness, open your eyes. Regain consciousness and then close them while using your hypnotic triggers. This sudden fractionation could be enough to send your body one step closer to sleep whlile retaining consciousness  You can switch between sitting and lying during your REM core Reverse FILD: Suddenly stop the finger movements and pretend you fell asleep. https://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initiated-lucid-dreams-wild/101305-reverse-fild-technique-100%-success-out-4-attempts-so-far.html When you can't fall asleep during your REM core, keep being conscious and see it as awareness practice, thus no time is wasted It's very easy to end up half-heartedly doing the technique upon waking up and then very quickly fall back asleep. When you wake up, strengthen your intention and determination first.  
 
Chapter 3: Daily Practices - 1. Conscious falling asleep (during your REM core)
- 2. Perfect concentration
When you are very alert and have perfect concentration you produce more gamma brainwaves. Spend every day 5-10 min of perfect forced concentration. Don't allow thoughts. Don't allow anything other than what you are focusing on. 
I usually focus on being extremely alert. Alert of whether there are thoughts. If a thought appears immediately cut it off. Don't even allow subtle thoughts. 
You can also listen to gamma brainwave entrainment at the same time.
- 3. Relaxed awareness 
Spend every day 5-15 min doing relaxed awareness. The objective is to stay aware. And allow everything to happen.  Allow all thoughts and passively observe them. That's alpha brainwaves (and some theta).  But don't lose your awareness. Aim for zero lapse of awareness. That's the gamma (and beta) brainwaves.
This is the sate of mind you need during conscious falling asleep. Relaxed and passive, yet uninterrupted awareness.
 
- 4. ADA periods
Doing all day awareness (ada) surely helps for conscious falling asleep but I don't think ada is worth the effort. Effort/Benefit ratio is poor. 
Instead, I recommend you do ada only for a short period - like 2 to 10 minutes - around 1-3 times a day. Perhaps while driving, cooking, exercising. Just do your normal activity while trying to stay conscious.
 
- 5. Binaural beats during the day
All the above practices develop your gamma brainwave skills. Additionally you can listen to gamma (and other frequencies) brainwave entrainment while doing daily activities like reading, cooking, etc. I wrote about that here: 
 
- 6. LOA Visualizations 
Visualize everyday for 1-3 min how you are successful at sleep yoga. Know that this is true. If your memories say otherwise, regard them as false memories.
You can apply all LOA stuff for sleep yoga. Here i mentioned some more LOA stuff: 
 
 
- 7. Trance 
Trance practice is not required but can be helpful.
- 7.1 Procedure
Strengthen your intention and LOA visualize how your session will unfold Get to your awake/tired sweet spot: (Reverse Blinking, hypnotic trigger, suggestions) Body relaxation: body scan, progressive muscle relaxation, tensing/relaxing muscles, visualize a light relaxing your muscles. You could also stretch, move and massage some muscles beforehand) Mental Relaxation Hypnotic suggestions Trance Deepeners and using your Hypnotic Triggers Listening to Guided Hypnosis or freestyle.
0-60 min each day, as you believe necessary.
 
- 7.2 Tips
body and mind relaxation is crucial. it is the foundation for altered sates. Don't wave them aside, thinking they are not worth doing. I made that mistake and wasted a lot of time therefore. Once I realized the importance of body relaxation, I spent a few days - 2-4 hours each day - only trying to relax the body.  The objective is to get alpha and theta brainwaves. So practice when you are tired, because then it is far easier to enter these brainwaves. Find your sweet spot, of tired enough but still able to resist falling asleep. Exhaustion. It has a similiar effect like being tired. Hypnotic suggestions are more easily absorbed and it is easier to surrender into trance. Here I wrote more about exhaustion, including it's value in terms of enlightenment:  Use hypnosis (see my hypnosis thread) Use brainwave entrainment   
 
Chapter 4: Stages of Progress  
- Stage 1
Getting close to the awake/asleep threshold for brief moments, but then being immediately snapped back
- Stage 2
Able to stay conscious while the body falls asleep. But after a few moments, you either lose consciousness or are snapped back.
- Stage 3 
Able to reliable stay conscious while the body falls asleep (during your REM core of course) and smoothly transition into a lucid dream.
- Stage 4
Able to enter the void. No, or almost no sensations of your body left
- Stage 5
Able to remain in this void during your whole REM core (both light sleep and REM)
- Stage 6
You stopped your segmented sleep schedule. You can retain consciousness while sinking into deep sleep, but are not able to hold it there for long
- Stage 7
Able to stay conscious during the whole night
- Stage 8
Able to enter epsilon brainwaves during deep sleep without losing consciousness 
- Stage 9
Able to enter the exact same depth, in your meditation during the day, when you are not tired.
- Stage 10
Able to do that in less than 5 minutes.
- Stage 11
Able to do that while sitting
- Stage 12
Able to do that while walking. You are able to split your consciousness. One part is astral projecting on Mars, while a small portion of your consciousness remains in your physical body, cleaning the kitchen.
 
 
Chapter 5: Resources and Notes - 1. Resources
There is not much information out there about Dream Yoga.
- In this post I mentioned it a bit: 
 
- Books:
Dream Yoga by Andrew Holecek The Tibetan yogas of dream and sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Dreaming Yourself Awake by B. Alan Wallace. - Forum posts: https://www.dreamviews.com/beyond-dreaming/142072-exploring-delta-sleep.html
- A Website: http://www.swamij.com/yoga-nidra.htm
 
- 2. Depth of Sleep Yoga
Some reports of being conscious during sleep, don't appear as fantastic as one would expect. I guess it's the same as with psychedelics. The average person might take 700 ug of LSD without getting nondual, while a spiritual seeker might get completely blown away by 300 ug. How deep your mystical experiences are (for psychedelics and sleep yoga alike) depends on many factors but the biggest are:
your baseline consciousness  self-inquiry / contemplation skills surrender skills intention (for pyschedelics, there are some more, like personal tolerance etc).
 
- 3. My progress so far
I had tried WILD a few times a year ago with zero success.
I have done quite a lot of meditation during the past 2 years. But I don't think this is required or provides a huge advantage compared to someone who hasn't done any meditation so far. A few months of the above-mentioned Sleep yoga practice, is more valuable in terms of sleep yoga progress than 3 years of meditation.
I started my sleep yoga practice around 3 weeks ago. My attention has been mainly on figuring out the right technique/schedule rather than trying to actually achieve sleep yoga (but I did try, of course). Now I'm finally somewhat satisfied with the technique, so the real practice starts tomorrow.
So far I'm roughly at progress stage 1. 
I'm gonna keep updating.