Tag Archives: cabal fang

The Toughest Martial Art on Earth

Sometimes I get disheartened because Cabal Fang isn’t popular.  I try to set a good example but despite myself I get bummed and whiny from time to time.  That happened the other day and I bent my wife’s ear a little.

“Promise me you won’t change anything,” she said.
I said nothing.
Promise.”  This time it was less of a request and more of a direct order.
“I won’t change anything,” I said.  “I promise.”

My wife said that because, although she’s never practiced Cabal Fang or any other martial art, she understands that Cabal Fang is an art.  You don’t change the Mona Lisa because numbered prints aren’t selling fast enough on Home Shopping Network.

There’s nothing wrong with Cabal Fang and nothing needs to be changed.

It’s never going to be popular because we have no rewards like uniforms, belts, certificates, trophies or competitions.  We train outdoors year round, contending with extreme temperatures, bad weather and bugs.   We’ve added rigorous spiritual and intellectual requirements like introspection, journaling and memorization.  And our strict martial fitness regimen is no joke.

Cabal Fang may be the toughest martial art on Earth.   

Maybe you’re unimpressed, or maybe that scares the pants off you. Don’t know, don’t care.  All I care about is that Cabal Fang remains true to its goals and ideals, and that it helps transform those who are inspired enough take the leap.

Email me at first.elder@cabalfang.com and let’s start your training.  Cabal Fang Temple, Inc. is a federally recognized tax exempt public educational charity, and all our programs are free, including our study-at-home program.

Start your transformation today.

Paper Copies now Available on Amazon

cover

Buy your copy now — $12.99 at Createspace

Paper copies of my recently completed book Cabal Fang: Complete Martial Arts Study Course from Querent to Elder are now available from Amazon and Createspace.

If you’d prefer the ebook, there’s still time to pre-order for $5.99 before it releases on February 1st and the price goes up.  Click here for details.

This is a big book, both literally and figuratively.  It’s big because it’s truly groundbreaking — describing the first martial art in modern history to incorporate western esoteric studies like Hermeticism, mysticism, and perennial philosophy.  Second, it’s literally big — 462 pages, 125,000 words, 100+ drills, exercises and assignments, and dozens of photos and illustrations.

Go getcha some.

 

 

Blood Symbols and Cabal Fang Workout of the Week #27

This week’s workout is a three-parter.  You can just watch the video (see below) or if you like words over pictures, here are the details.

Calisthenics.  Complete 3 sets to failure  of Narrow Push-ups and Hindu Squats. We’re not keeping score.  But if we were, you’d get extra points for doing more than 50 of the Push-ups and more 100+ of the Squats.  This segment was created using PTDICE.  Getcha some.

Shadowboxing with 1 pound weights.  Set a timer for 10 minutes — no breaks! — and shadowbox with #1 hand weights or 16 oz boxing gloves.  If you don’t imagine your opponent you’re wasting your time.  Really visualize what you’re striking at!

Meditation on blood.   Violence is a serious matter, and blood is not to be spilled lightly.  How can you call yourself qualified to draw blood in defense of yourself or someone you care about if you haven’t even take the time to understand and appreciate the sacredness of blood and what it symbolizes?  There are four types of blood — the mythological blood of Gods and Goddesses (holy blood), the blood of ancestors and kin (family blood), the blood of friends and heroes (royal and/or cultural blood), and the blood of sacrifice and nourishment (the blood that’s spilled to keep us spiritually and/or physically fed).  Set a timer for 10 minutes, assume the meditation posture of your choice, and spend this time meditating on these four types of blood.  For a deeper experience, meditate on just one of the four types of blood and do this exercise four days running.

 

Cabal Fang WOOTW #7

No fancy preamble to this week’s WOOTW — with the passing of the champ, I’ve got little to say other than what I said earlier this morning.

Cabal Fang WOOTW #7

Half Pyramid to 15 of Knuckle Push-ups, Flutter Kicks, Zombie Squats, and Wall Touches (that’s 105 reps each.). Rest 1 min. Then AFAYC complete 250 strikes of your choice  — punches, kicks, stick/weapon strikes vs. heavy bag or forging post, whatever you please.

Dispelling Bad Magic, The New Temple, etc.

The other day somebody asked me some questions about Cabal Fang, and those questions made it pretty clear that this somebody really didn’t understand who we are and what we’re trying to do with the martial art of Cabal Fang.

Time to cast Dispel Magic on any bad vibes that might be out there and clarify our position!

What is Cabal Fang?

The first and oldest Eastern temple martial art in the world may be Shaolin Kung Fu, but the first and oldest Western Temple martial art is Cabal Fang, an initiatory martial art based on Western martial culture, Hermetic concepts, and the wonders of the Western Mysteries.

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So that you can see our vision, we’ve created a pamphlet that illustrates what we hope to create – as if the new temple was already here (click to view).

Our primary goal is to develop and nurture physically fit and spiritually fulfilled men and women capable of making the world a better place for themselves and all living things.

Our tools in this quest are the lessons we learn from realistic practice of the fighting arts and the sincere pursuit of the ageless, Hermetic wisdom of the Western Mystery Tradition.

The Cabal Fang Temple

We have a little temple (see below) but our dream is to construct a new temple, or to buy and convert an existing property to our purpose. Toward that end, we will be forming a non-profit corporation and filing 501©(3) paperwork in the near future.

So that you can see our vision, we’ve created a pamphlet that illustrates what we hope to create – as if the new temple was already complete (click to view).  If you look at the “as if” pamphlet you’ll notice that it says I’m an interfaith minister.  I ain’t, at least not yet, but I’m working on it.

To see pics of our existing temple and read more, click here.  And to support our temple-building efforts, pre-order your copy of the Cabal Fang book today!

The Cabal Fang Temple in the morning fog.

The existing Cabal Fang Temple in the morning fog.

Book Update, Writer Advice and a Friendly Request

 

coverBook Update (11/13/16):  [PRE-ORDER LINKS BELOW!] We finished taking the last of the photos yesterday!  All I have to do now is crop, edit and add them to the manuscript, do another  quick re-read and a final spellcheck before sending the file to the formatter.  I’ll have that done by 12/1.  Allowing time for cover creation, formatting and holiday delays, the eBook should be available  no later than 2/1/17.   Hardcopies should be available shortly thereafter!

Here are some pics from the photo shoot yesterday.  Wicked eh?

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Book Update (5/18/16): Draft copies of Cabal Fang: The Complete Study Course from Querent to Elder are now in the hands of my editorial team (a.k.a. the three people I could talk into critiquing it).

Writers Advice: Below find the instructions I gave my editors.  If your editor isn’t as compassionate as a meat cleaver and if you don’t have the courage of a .357 magnum, you need a new plan.  You can’t create art if you’re afraid of what people will think, and puerile criticism is a waste of time.  Smile at the executioner and put your neck in the rope.  It’s the only way to go.

A Friendly Request to my Friendly Friends and Devoted Readers: This book is going to be epic.  When you read it, you’re going to weep magical tears of joy that cause flowers to sprout up from the earth wherever they land.   So you should pre-order it immediately.  Here are the links:

Pre-order my the Cabal Fang Book on iTunes

Pre-order at Barnes & Noble

Pre-order it on from KOBO

This is the back cover of one of my favorite books. Check out the cool blurbs at the top.

This is the back cover of one of my favorite books. Check out the cool blurbs at the top.

And if you know of anyone notable in the martial arts or esoteric fields whom you think would be willing to read an advance copy and give me a book blurb, something like “If this book was a movie, it would be It’s a Wonderful Life – starring Steven Seagal!” please hook me up in the comments.

Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to go convince my wife to take a couple of hundred pictures of martial arts techniques and persuade my daughter to create fifteen gorgeous illustrations — all in time to get this thing to the formatter by July 15th so I can hit the Sept 1st. release date.

Adieu!

———————————————————

Dear Editor:

I’m not looking for criticism of grammar and spelling and such.  What I’m looking for is insight into how to make this book as inspiring as possible.  I want this to be the most original, groundbreaking, and compelling martial arts book since Bruce Lee’s Tao of Jeet Kune Do in 1973.  It needs to launch a movement to put spirituality back into Western martial arts for the first time since chivalry died.  I don’t need notes about verb agreement. 

So I need you to be BRUTAL AS @*#! and circle paragraphs and make notes like, “This is boring” or “This is the most pompous bat piss I’ve ever sniffed in my entire life” or “This made me want to Mike Tyson the Hermetic Quaternary on my face!”  

Thanks for your help,

~Mitch

Hermetica Review, News, and Your WOD

Last night I finished one of the best books I’ve read in recent memory.  Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius in a New English Translation, with Notes and Introduction by Brian P. Copenhaver is the definitive translation of the Corpus Hermeticum, and  must read for any serious student of religion, mysticism, magic or philosophy.  Read my Goodreads review here, then go buy a copy here.

And today I hit a milestone — 2,000 book downloads!  I can’t believe that my stuff is this popular.  I mean, I can believe it.  It’s kind of a fact, and why shouldn’t I be able to attract 2,000 downloads?  I work hard and I take my craft seriously.  It’s just that, even if you assume some people have read more than one of my titles, there must be something like a thousand people reading my books.  No, it’s not that it’s unbelievable exactly, it just makes me a little woozy to be out in front of that many people.  And it makes me happy.  So I just want to say thanks to my readers for…

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Now here’s your Cabal Fang WOD.  You’re going to hate me for this one — when you get done you’ll be panting like a Labrador at a tennis ball chasing contest!

  • PTDICE: AMSAYC in 10 mins of 4 Hop/Clap Push-ups and 8 Jump Squats (I got 18 sets).
  • Rest 1 minute and then complete Grappling Conditioner #1 (If you’re unfamiliar, details here)
  • Rest 1 minute and then Bike or Run 6 x 3:00/1:00 (pace for the 3:00, sprint for the 1:00).

 

 

 

 

Candidate Net Worth Data and Your WOD

A flaming black hourglass. The hourglass symbol is an important one in Cabal Fang. Dig it.

Before your Cabal Fang WOD, some data for your consideration.

Estimated Net Worth of US Presidential Hopefuls:

  1. Trump $3,500,000,000.00
  2. Fiorina $59,000,000.00
  3. Bush $21,000,000.00
  4. Kasich $15,500,000.00
  5. Clinton $15,300,000.00
  6. Huckabee $15,000,000.00
  7. Carson $13,500,000.00
  8. Cruz $3,000,000.00
  9. Paul $1,300,000.00
  10. Rubio $443,509.00
  11. Sanders $330,507.00

Those in BOLD are still, theoretically at least, in the race.  Front-runners in BOLD RED.  Compiled from a variety of sources.  What this data means, well, that’s for you to decide.

Now for your three-part Cabal Fang WOD (this should take you about 40 minutes if you maintain focus):

  1. Dumbbells: 6 x 8 of Kung Fu Curls, Bent Rows, Rear Lunges
  2. Ground-fighting Conditioner #4 (details here)
  3. Heavy Bag Strike Count Drill (details here): Complete this twice — once with punches only and then again with kicks only.

Levy Drag Damn Bill Commissioner

What happens when you dictate your workout into your ‘droid phone, but you’re still all winded and raspy?  Well, your phone types “levy drag damn bill commissioner” instead of what you actually did, which was a “heavy bag dumbbell conditioner.”

I’m warning you, today’s Cabal  Fang Workout of the Day is a real gulch, a pusillanimous butt munch.  You will hate me for this, I’m sure of it.  So, while you still like me, go buy my calisthenics eBook or a set of PTDICE, or go sign up for the Cabal Fang Distance Learning Program.

What’s that?  You’ve already bought everything?  Well, bust my buttons! Why didn’t you say that in the first place? That’s a horse of a different color!

Enough silliness — time to get on your horse and ride.  Your Cabal Fang WOD is as follows:

  • PTDICE (7 x 8 ea. Narrow Push-ups, Jump Squats, Twisters)
  • Ground-fighting Conditioner #1
  • Heavy Bag Dumbbell Conditioner (Each DB 10% BW. 5 x 1:00 ea.  of Max power shots to HB, Mil. Presses, Squats, rest — 20 mins total)

(Abbreviation key here)

Dangerous Disconnections (and Your WOD)

wpid-20150509_200303.jpgI find it refreshing and downright beautiful that two very different writers  — an American poet writing in English about the origin of culture and an Estonian-Russian mystic writing in French about Christian Hermeticism — could express (from very different perspectives of course) the same essential truth in very similar language.  Both of these books are excellent by the way — highly recommended.

Because we have separated humanity from nature, subject from object, values from analysis, knowledge from myth, and universities from the universe, it is enormously difficult for anyone but a poet or a mystic to understand what is going on in the holistic and mythopoetic thought of Ice Age humanity. The very language we use to discuss the past speaks of tools, hunters, and men, when every statue and painting we discover cries out to us that this Ice Age humanity was a culture of art, the love of animals, and women…We have to use the “Imagination” to recover a sense of the sacred. The sacred is the emotional force which connects the part to the whole; the profane or the secular is that which as broken off from, or has fallen off, its emotional bond to the universe.

~William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality, and the Origins of Culture (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1981) p.102

[I]ntelligence with conscience eclipsed…is the Arcanum of the magical mechanism, working behind the surface of the state of intelligence, which aims at explaining movement by the immobile, life by the non-living, consciousness by the unconscious, morality by the amoral.  Indeed, how has it happened to mankind that many of its intelligent representatives — even its leaders and directors — have come to see in the brain not the instrument but the producer of consciousness, in chemistry not the instrument but the producer of life, in the economic sphere not the instrument but the producer of culture? How can it be that human intelligence has arrived — in so far as many of its representatives are concerned — at seeing man without a soul and the world without God?”

~Anonymous, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey Into Christian Hermeticism  (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1985) p. 518-19

And Now for your Cabal Fang WOD (abbreviation key here):

  • Weights.  7 x 15 of Two-handed Squat Presses and Swing-thrus.
  • Kickboxing. Heavy bag HZG, AHAYC without sacrificing good form.
  • Jump rope. 4 x 3:00/1:00