Category Archives: Mysticism

Amazon Babylon: Martial Arts Training Involution #207

Posted on May 9, 2020 | Leave a comment

L: The diadem of a famous Amazon from comic books and movies. R: The Star of Ishtar. Coincidence? I think not!

Long before the 2017 movie, Cabal Fang was using an 8-point combat clock called the Star of Ishtar — a universal symbol for the divine feminine associated with the ancient Babylonian goddess Ishtar.  You will note that the star on this fictional Amazon’s diadem is a star of similar design.

Symbols colonize our subconscious minds and permeate the world’s cultures. 

It’s quite possible the artists and costume designers working on the film didn’t consciously change the original 5-pointed star from the comic books to an 8-pointed Star of Ishtar.  They probably did it without even realizing they were doing it.

Stay tuned — The next of SHIFT will contain a video exploring this in more detail.

In the meantime, for this week’s involution we’re going to take our training inspiration from Amazon warriors and ancient symbols…

My forging post.  Note Tarot poster featuring Star of Ishtar

Amazon Babylon: Martial Arts Training Involution #207

  • Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, or light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.
  • 10 minutes of crams.  Get on your forging post, pell or war-post and work your crams.  If you don’t have a post, use your grappling dummy today — and then go put up a post in your gym or back yard tomorrow.
  • Practice the Star of Ishtar drill for 10 minutes.  Don’t know it?  It’s in the Cabal Fang Study Course.
  • 10 minutes of heavy carries.  Want to be Amazon strong?  The ancients had no barbells — they carried loads and lifted stones.   Set a timer for 10 minutes and bear hug or shoulder carry your heavy bag (or appropriate substitute based on your fitness level) until the timer beeps.  Put the weight down and take a break as few times as possible.  Finish the whole 10 minutes without putting it down and you’re either a monster or you picked too light a load.
  • 1 mile run.  The ancient Greeks were big on running.  Cover a mile as fast as you can.
  • Contemplation.  Cool down for about 3 minutes, then set a timer for 10 minutes.  Assume your meditative posture of choice and regulate your breathing to insure a slow and consistent rhythm that completely fills and empties your lungs without bearing down on your breath.  Eyes open.  Gently allow your mind to empty and calm itself.  Don’t make war with thoughts, just let them pass by, dissipating like ripples on the surface of a pond.    

My new newsletter SHIFT went live April 30th, next issue May 14th.   Sign up now to get tips, fun and inspirational articles, quizzes, meditations, exercises, and more — all 100% free — and guaranteed to shift you in a new whole new gear.

 

 

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The Eye is the Lamp of the Body?

Posted on May 3, 2020 | Leave a comment

This Sunday’s video explores the meanings of Matthew 6:22-23.

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The Galahad Maneuver: Martial Arts Training Involution #206

Posted on May 2, 2020 | Leave a comment
Playing the Cabal Fang home game?  Cool.  This month’s constitutional, martial focus and symbol are on on the left.  Stop shirking and start working. Or enroll in the free home study program. Are you a Frontier Rough ‘n’ Tumbler?  Things are a little less structured for you.  World’s your oyster.  Roll the dice, do the Molly Pitcher, the Sim Webb, etc., or enroll in the program. Regardless of which camp you’re in you’re going to love my new ebook “Martial Grit: Real Fighting Fitness (On a Budget)” which releases July 1st.  Pre-order now at Barnes & Noble, iTunes or Smashwords — it’s a real winner.  Honed by 30 years teaching martial arts on shoestring budgets in inner city programs and in public parks for a non-profit, this is as real as it gets. The 3 keys to proper mindset. Improve right away using the “S.A.F.E. M.P.” protocol. Proper use of heavy bags, floor bags, dummies, slip balls, chains, weights, tires, sledges, pipes, mallets, etc. And DIY instructions for making your own gear for pennies.   And now for your weekly T.I.

The Galahad Maneuver: Martial arts Training Involution #206

  • Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, or light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.
  • Martial Arts Mix and Match.  4 rounds of action (beginner/intermediate 2:00 each, advanced 3:00) for a total of 8 to 12 minutes.  Take as few 12-second breaks as you need.  Do one round each of Lunges, Clocks, Low Crawl, Sled Pulls/Yanks.  Video below.
  • Not enough exercise for you?  Do this month’s constitutional.  See photo above or click here.
  • Practice the Galahad Maneuver.   Pick something you know that’s not good for you and make a substitution — a food or beverage, a form of entertainment, or even a person who’s a negative influence.  Just 5 minutes of serious thought will reveal a list of stuff you know you shouldn’t be eating, watching, doing or associating with.  Start with one of the easy ones and substitute a better choice.  This is the trail-head that leads to the mountaintop of sacrifice.  Keep going and perhaps one day you’ll come to see the world the way that Sir Galahad saw it when he said, “If I lose myself I save myself.”  Remember, Galahad was the only Knight of the Round Table who saw the Grail. You are not your tastes, your needs, your wants, your favorites, or hobbies, or any of that.  You are something much more than that.  But you have to strip some things away to begin to see it.  By the way, this drill is associated with the Chalice symbol and it first appeared in The Hourglass Way: Transform in 12 Weeks with Cabal Fang which contains about 11 more exercises that are equally powerful.

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Confronting Reality: Hunting, Meditation, and the Sacred Mystery of the Eucharist

Posted on April 26, 2020 | Leave a comment

My Sunday video is up — in which I explore the commonalities between some vary disparate activities…

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Turn the Other cheek: What Does it Really Mean?

Posted on April 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

 

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Sprawl ‘n’ Crawl: Martial Arts Training Involution #204

Posted on April 18, 2020 | Leave a comment

I like to scrawl stuff on chalk boards. It’s a teacher-coachy-thing.

No sparring allowed during the pandemic kids.  You’re going to have to stay fighting fit via the solo training route.  How?  By doing stuff that’s as close to real fighting as possible of course!

Keep it real, keep it relevant, and keep it rigorous.  REAL means you’re doing stuff that’s as close as possible to what real people do in real life.  RELEVANT means that it relates to what you want to get better at.  And RIGOROUS means that you are paying attention to doing the work properly in terms of technique and intensity.

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The following involution was created using the Scufflin’ Dice program available in my web shop.  Go get yourself some for just $9.99.

 

Sprawl ‘n’ Crawl: Martial Arts Training Involution #204

* Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, or light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

* 15 minutes of floor bag work.  Get out your floor bag (a heavy bag with the chains taped up) and set a countdown timer for 15 minutes.

  1. Sprawls.  Lay floor bag on side and Sprawl with forearms to the bag 4 – 6 times based on your fitness level.
  2. Bear Walks: Approx 25′, 4 – 6 times based on your fitness level.
  3. Shots:  Stand the bag on end, back up a couple of steps, and shoot in on the bag for a takedown.  4 – 6 times based on your fitness level.
  4. Bag Lifts. Get the bag from the floor to your shoulder any way you like.  4 – 6 times based on your fitness level.
  5. Bear Hug the bag: Stand up and squeeze with it with max power cutting bone pressure of the forearm until you gas out. 
  6. Repeat until the timer rings. 

* Contemplation.  Cool down for about 3 minutes, then set a timer for 10 minutes.  Assume your meditative posture of choice and regulate your breathing to insure a slow and consistent rhythm that completely fills and empties your lungs without bearing down on your breath.  Eyes open.  Gently allow your mind to empty and calm itself.  Don’t make war with thoughts, just let them pass by, dissipating like ripples on the surface of a pond.    

On April 30th my new newsletter SHIFT goes live.   This is where everything I do will come together — my fitness work, my primitive skills and martial arts material, my management, coaching and financial advice, and of course my spiritual teaching.  Sign up now to get tips, fun and inspirational articles, quizzes, meditations, exercises, and more — all 100% free — and guaranteed to shift you in a new whole new gear.

 

 

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Christianity for Doubters 10: The Easter Miracle

Posted on April 12, 2020 | Leave a comment

The tenth video in my series Christianity for Doubters is now live.  The Big Finish is finally here!

If you enjoyed the series, please support me on Patreon for as little as $1/month.  As a seminarian in the Independent Sacramental Movement (specifically the Old Catholic line) when I’m ordained as a priest there will be no centralized church to pay me a salary, provide health insurance, a place to live, or even a parish.  And I’m married with a family, which means I’ve got people to care for and a church to build.  Your monthly contribution would be greatly appreciated.  

 

If you’re in Richmond, VA and you want to begin your journey in Christianity, consider joining the St. Barachiel’s of Richmond Meetup Group.  Just click the logo on the right to join!

 

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Christianity for Doubters 9: Saints and Martyrs

Posted on April 5, 2020 | Leave a comment

The ninth video in my series Christianity for Doubters is now live.  Only one more video to come in this series — there’s still time to catch up for the big finish!  If you are enjoying these videos, please support me on Patreon for as little as $1/month.

As a seminarian in the Independent Sacramental Movement (specifically the Old Catholic line) when I’m ordained as a priest there will be no centralized church to pay me a salary, provide health insurance, a place to live, or even a parish.  And I’m married with a family, which means I’ve got people to care for and a church to build.  Your monthly contribution would be greatly appreciated.  

If you’re in Richmond, VA and you want to begin your journey in Christianity, consider joining the St. Barachiel’s of Richmond Meetup Group.  Just click the logo on the right to join!

 

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Beat It: Martial Arts Training Involution #203

Posted on April 4, 2020 | Leave a comment

Setting goals is not optional.  If you are not setting goals and doing what it takes to hit them, like establishing performance metrics and tracking methods, developing programs, setting benchmarks, etc., you are not going to get past the intermediate level — at anything.

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In this week’s T.I. you are going to start setting goals, and maybe even beat the old man at his own game.

I’m so sure this will benefit you, and so excited to see you try, that I’m giving away a 25% off coupon good at Mitch’s General Store to everyone who faces any of the benchmarks in this week’s T.I.!  Just post a link to a video in the comments below.

If this sort of stuff interests you, you might really enjoy my new newsletter SHIFT which goes live April 30th.  Sign up now to get tips, fun and inspirational articles, quizzes, meditations, exercises, and more — all 100% free — and guaranteed to shift you in a new whole new gear.  SHIFT isn’t a martial arts newsletter.  It’s where everything I do and teach comes together — fitness, motivation, nature observation and primitive skills, martial arts, management, coaching, financial advice, DIY, and of course my spiritual teaching.  

Beat It: Martial Arts Training Involution #203

  • Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. I generally do 8 minutes of MBF or either 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, or light heavy bag work.
  • 150 max power kicks vs. the heavy bag.  Warm up by doing 8 x 5 kicks with each leg at 50% power, alternating legs each set.  Take a 1 minute break and then start your stopwatch.  Kick the bag with maximum power 150 times as fast as you can.  Switch legs as needed.  Write down your time me and make regular attempts to beat it.  I hit my personal record (PR) earlier this week.  It was 4:00.
  • Constant Contact Drill.  Walk off the kicks for 3:00.  Now glove up and go after your heavy bag with hands, feet, elbows etc. with maximum speed.  There should be some part of your body in contact with that bag pretty much at all times.  See how long you can go before you have to stop.  Write down your time me and make regular attempts to beat it.  I set my new PR this morning.  It was 2:27.
  • Balboa Run.  Start a stopwatch and run your chosen distance — punching the air the whole time.  Beginners go 1/2 mile, intermediate and advanced, 1 full mile.  If you have to rest, do so in place and leave the clock running.  When you finish, write down your time me and make regular attempts to beat it. My half mile PR is 6:15 and my 1 mile is 14:29.
  •  Reflection.  Cool down for about 3 minutes, then sit down with your training journal and do a goal review.  Are you hitting goals, establishing proper metrics, setting PRs, structuring your training in order to hit goals and PRs, etc.?  If you don’t keep a training journal you had better start! 

If you enjoyed his training involution you’d probably enjoy my books and other products.  Why not check them out?

 

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The 3 Keys to Practical Weapon Skill

Posted on April 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

Are you working out, or training?  Are you actually getting more skilled with your weapon?  If so, can you prove it?  These are some of the questions answered in this week’s martial arts video, “The 3 Keys to Practical Weapon Skill” at the bottom of this post.

If this kind of thing appeals to you, consider signing up for a martial arts distance learning program.  The Cabal Fang Hermit Path program is 100% free and provided by the non-profit I founded in 2009 — click here to sign up today!

Interested in the fighting arts, survival skills, lifeways and ethos of the colonial and indigenous peoples of North American during the frontier period — 1607 to 1912?  Click here to find out more about my Bobcat Frontier Rough ‘n’ Tumble program — just  $19.99/month.   

Or how about a bi-weekly email to designed to inspire and motivate you find your inspiration,  establish and hit goals, and feel more alive?  SHIFT your OUTLOOK.  SHIFT your EXPECTATIONS.  SHIFT your POSSIBILITIES.  Sign up here.

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