Regarding auto-regulation

[luotenrati]

Not all of us are lucky enough to have a teacher. Some of us also prefer to somewhat individualise their practice rather than following rigid guidelines.

For those of you that manage their own practice: at what point do you decide it is time to change something? How do you manage modifications?

For me, my current approach is such that I pick smaller windows of operation such as 10-14 at once and stick to this practice until the end of this 'burst'. I record my results and based on my reflections I decide to change or delete something.

Example: I'm currently doing Stenwick's operant field (LBRP + LIRH + MP) as well as LIRP in the morning daily. I treat this like ceremonial training mostly rather than rigorously following the GD curriculum. Additionally, I'm doing a GoM working after casting the operant field daily.

As is, I feel very tired and drained throughout the day. This can have have completely mundane causes. I have trouble sleeping because of a generally noisy environment and I haven't gotten good sleep in a while due to construction work that starts early on the street near my apartment. Another possible cause is the operant field exhausting me due to not banishing planetary energies. Saturn is in retrograde and I keep invoking. Last but not least the cause could be the intensity of the GoM working which might be understood as a necessary side effect. I exclude the LIRP/LBRP itself from my diagnosis because they have not caused such effects in the past.

Based on this diagnosis the first thing to do would be to sort out possible mundane effects first which means taking care of sleep. Next, I can repeat one part of the working while omitting a part. This means not doing the LIRH but doing GoM or not doing GoM but doing the LIRH for another 10-14 days and once again recording my results.

It is important to make small modifications and to maintain them over time so you know what is causing what. In my opinion singling out and swapping parts often is better than sticking with one ritual for 6 months before making a change. This is just my experience though.

What methods and criteria of auto-regulation do you use?

 

[Frater M.M.]

I've experienced sleep disruptions before in the past from noisy neighbours; it's pretty brutal when you can't sleep well. As you say, taking care of basics like sleep, is definitely the first step if you can, imo.

With your deeper question, my take is the following. I have a value stack, with health being my number 1 value. Anything that I feel interferes with them gets the chop, basically: magical paths, hobbies, lifestyles, people, work, etc. I wouldn't stick with a ritual for 6 days, let alone 6 months, if I knew for sure it was affecting my health, personally.

Good luck with the noise!

 

[Tryp]

I agree that procuring at least a couple nights in a row of good sleep should be your top priority. Improper rest can wreck a lot of things, starting with your own self assessment and perception. If the problem is noise, you can resort to an overlay (music, artificial atmosphere) to muffle the interference. Or use herbs and supplements to facilitate deep sleep, and go to bed early enough so the noise won't wake you up too prematurely. For me, if I'm having trouble to operate and sleep or diet quality are dubious, I don't even think too much about other potential causes before addressing the former.

In regards to auto-regulation in general, we may feel comfortable in solitary routine and practice but some degree of feedback that is not entirely mediated through your own thought process is important imo. For me (and online interaction aside) that means practice of divination, dream journaling, and if possible insights and communication obtained in trance states. These are hardly a replacement for regular feedback from partners or colleagues, but can fill a gap that I find very difficult to handle by myself.

 

[luotenrati]

I've experienced sleep disruptions before in the past from noisy neighbours; it's pretty brutal when you can't sleep well. As you say, taking care of basics like sleep, is definitely the first step if you can, imo.

With your deeper question, my take is the following. I have a value stack, with health being my number 1 value. Anything that I feel interferes with them gets the chop, basically: magical paths, hobbies, lifestyles, people, work, etc. I wouldn't stick with a ritual for 6 days, let alone 6 months, if I knew for sure it was affecting my health, personally.

Good luck with the noise!

Thanks for the reply! Yeah health is also the #1 priority for me because without it, I won't be able to do anything else. One of the most important (if not the most important) thing for health is proper sleep. I have a rule to never compromise on sleep so having those kinds of disturbances is all the more annoying. As for the ritual itself I don't think it's affecting my health negatively. If anything it might be helping me get through this rough patch.

I agree that procuring at least a couple nights in a row of good sleep should be your top priority. Improper rest can wreck a lot of things, starting with your own self assessment and perception. If the problem is noise, you can resort to an overlay (music, artificial atmosphere) to muffle the interference. Or use herbs and supplements to facilitate deep sleep, and go to bed early enough so the noise won't wake you up too prematurely. For me, if I'm having trouble to operate and sleep or diet quality are dubious, I don't even think too much about other potential causes before addressing the former.

In regards to auto-regulation in general, we may feel comfortable in solitary routine and practice but some degree of feedback that is not entirely mediated through your own thought process is important imo. For me (and online interaction aside) that means practice of divination, dream journaling, and if possible insights and communication obtained in trance states. These are hardly a replacement for regular feedback from partners or colleagues, but can fill a gap that I find very difficult to handle by myself.

Yeah getting some sort of information from outside would definitely be a good idea. I have to make use of divination and dreams more often.

 

[Frater M.M.]

Thanks for the reply! Yeah health is also the #1 priority for me because without it, I won't be able to do anything else. One of the most important (if not the most important) thing for health is proper sleep. I have a rule to never compromise on sleep so having those kinds of disturbances is all the more annoying. As for the ritual itself I don't think it's affecting my health negatively. If anything it might be helping me get through this rough patch.

That's great, glad to hear it. Sounds like your practice is already earning its keep.

In regards to auto-regulation in general, we may feel comfortable in solitary routine and practice but some degree of feedback that is not entirely mediated through your own thought process is important imo. For me (and online interaction aside) that means practice of divination, dream journaling, and if possible insights and communication obtained in trance states. These are hardly a replacement for regular feedback from partners or colleagues, but can fill a gap that I find very difficult to handle by myself.

This is a very good point as well. I tend to do daily tarot draws as a kind of message from entities I work with. So it's not really fortune telling but kind of synchronistic draws giving advice or food for thought.

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On further reflection, I guess if you're trying some kind of giant months-long operation that is just basically radio silence, zero feedback, until right at the end when it suddenly works, this could be a lot trickier to judge whether it's worth doing solo even if the practice isn't violating your values (apart from potentially wasting time, I guess). Don't know of any, but if I did I probably wouldn't bother, personally.