Death defiers are beings that defy the organic cycle of birth to death. On the eve of a New Year, I explore their relevance to the future of life on our planet.

Rather than submit to the mandatory end of life in organic form, death defiers are able to transform themselves into some sustained organic form, or create a parasitic relation with other organic life, to continue to live.

The shamanic line of Carlos Castaneda came under the influence of such a death defier, a shaman that had lived in ancient times and continued life in organic form into the modern age. This being had been able to journey and live in transpersonal realms—out-of-body, where time could be elongated—that provided the energy to continue life in human form. Ultimately, this death defier intruded upon the lineage of Carlos Castaneda’s shamanic line, forming a pact with each new generation of shamans, giving knowledge of how to access these transpersonal realms in exchange for some of the shaman’s energy, enabling the death defier to continue his/her life in human form. I say his/her because this death defier had learned how to fully shapeshift into male or female form.

The completion of Carlos Castaneda’s shamanic line was the merger of his and Carol Tigg’s energy with the death defier’s energy. They became an energetic entity, delivering their gifts of knowledge to the world, as far as I know, to this day. The guiding energy of this combined entity, I believe, is love. I believe that the ancient practice of recapitulation that I have been guided to bring to my healing practice as a psychotherapist is a reflection of this energetic, loving intent.

I recently came across an account of a shamanic journey cited in Stanislav Grof’s book, The Adventure of Self-Discovery, of a different kind of death defier—the one that hangs ominously over the fate of the modern world: Petroleum. I quote this account, a dire warning, in its entirety, for the reader’s deep reflection:

“The atmosphere was dark, heavy, and ominous. It seemed to be toxic and poisonous in a chemical sense, but also dangerous and evil in the metaphysical sense. I realized I was becoming PETROLEUM, filling enormously large cavities in the interior of the earth. I was flooded with fascinating insights combining chemistry, geology, biology, psychology, mythology, economy, and politics.”

“I understood that petroleum—immense deposits of mineralized fat of biological origin—had escaped the mandatory cycle of death and birth that the world of living matter is subjected to. (My emphasis.) However, the element of death was not completely avoided, it was only delayed. The destructive plutonic potential of death continues to exist in petroleum in a latent form that waits for its opportunity as a monstrous time-bomb.”

“While experiencing what I felt was consciousness of petroleum, I saw the death associated with it manifesting as killing based on greed and lust of those who seek the astronomical profits that it offers. I witnessed scenes of political intrigues and economic shenanigans motivated by oil money. It was not difficult to follow the chains of events to a future world war for the dwindling resources of a substance that has become vital for the survival and prosperity of all the industrialized countries.”

“It became clear to me that it is essential for the future of the planet to reorient the economic life to solar energy and other renewable resources. The linear policy of fossil fuels that plunders the limited existing reserves and turns them into toxic waste and pollution is obviously fundamentally wrong, being totally incompatible with the cosmic order that is cyclical. While the exploitation of fossil fuels is understandable in the historical context of the Industrial Revolution, its continuation once its fatal trajectory was recognized seemed suicidal and criminal.”

“In a long series of hideous and most unpleasant experiences, I was taken through states of consciousness related to the chemical industry based on petroleum. Using the name of the famous German chemical combinate, I referred to these experiences as the IG Farben consciousness. It was an infinite sequence of states of mind that had the quality of anilin dyes, organic solvents, herbicides, pesticides, and toxic gases.”

“Beside the experiences related to these various industrial poisons per se, I also identified with the states of consciousness associated with the exposure of different life forms to the petroleum products. I became every Jew who died in the Nazi gas chambers, every sprayed ant and cockroach, every fly caught in the sticky goo of the fly-traps, and every plant dying under the influence of herbicides. And beyond all that lurked the highly possible future of all of life on the planet—death by industrial pollution.”

“It was an incredible lesson. I emerged from the session with a deep ecological awareness and a clear sense as to which direction the economic and political development has to take should life on the planet survive.”

It seems we as a planet are challenged by the legacy and vying for control of two ancient death defiers, the outcome of which will determine the fate of our consensual reality. However, we are not hopeless victims of this ancient rivalry, although we are indeed living out this vision. It is in our hands to align our consciousness and intent with transcendent love, relegating the last of the petroleum reserves to their chosen resting place, deep in the earth, as we thank them, like all the dark sorcerers, for their monumental challenges that are so necessary for our own evolutionary advancement.

Happy New Year and go green! Every little bit counts!
Chuck

Quote from: The Adventure of Self-Discovery, Stanislav Grof, M.D., State University of New York Press 1988, pp. 64-5.