On several occasions I have described how the terton negotiates his time of death according to Tibetan tradition. In Apparitions of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary (1988), Janet Gyatso covers this fascinating topic in her extensive study of the life of the Nyingma JL, Jigme Lingpa. Note the dates of his lifeline.
Jigme Lingpa (1730–1798) was a Tibetan tertön of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was the promulgator of the Longchen Nyingthig, the Heart Essence teachings of Longchenpa, from whom, according to tradition, he received a vision in which the teachings were revealed. The Longchen Nyingthik eventually became the most famous and widely practiced cycle of Dzogchen teachings.
I found it amusing that Gyatso’s study goes into the terton’s concerns about the authenticity of his terma download, including the risk of schizophrenia and borderline personality states. She also emphasizes his reliance upon an entourage to evaluate his “channelling of authorial voices,” a parahrase for Dakini instruction, as well as the responsibility he faced to frame the Terma. Planetary Tantra is the frame of the Terma of Gaia Awakening. In Tibetan, Dorje Namkhai Khandro Nying Thig: The Heart Essence of the Diamond Sky Dakinis.
Castaneda’s Fable
In a passage of one of the later books — The Art of Dreaming, if I recall correctly — Castaneda elaborates on a mysterious figure he calls the Death Defier:
From a summary on the internet:
“The Death Defier was initially a human from long ago who, on becoming a shaman-sorcerer, used his powers to try and escape death. He managed to alter his form so he would more closely resemble inorganic beings. However, in the process, he was trapped by the lure of power from those same inorganic beings. Eons later he managed to escape. Existing on a thin threshold between the not-fully human and the inorganic he couldn’t eat, yet still needed energy. To evade his former captors and sustain his form, he needed to constantly search for energy. In the year 1725 AD the Death Defier, addicted to living and needing energy, down on power, in his last dying moments, cornered a then minor shaman from a long line of minor shamans by the name of Sebastian. In a noticeable weakened state he was able to extort energy from him — but only through a deal. To stay alive each generation of shaman-sorcerers in Sebastian’s lineage would GIVE the Death Defier some of THEIR energy in exchange for knowledge — knowledge and secrets gained or learned by the Death Defier over thousands and thousands of years. Thus the Death Defier “earned” the name tenant and by doing so, a new lineage was born. The secret is, in making the deal, the crafty Sebastian and those that followed, have given the the life-addicted Defier only enough energy to survive.
Some years before that 1725 meeting, at the time of the Spanish Conquistadors, the Spaniards, using their swords, guns, and cannons, all deployed under the flag of their religion, either destroyed or eliminated most of the ancient sorcerers the same way the shaman-sorcerers of the early European tribes in the Old World had been either destroyed or eliminated. In spite of the sorcerers ability to turn into animals, birds or giant birds, harness the elements and the use of an Ally, their power was unable to withstand the continued and overwhelming onslaught of the ever increasing number of Spaniards. A turning point did not occur until 1725 when the Death Defier came into contact with Sebastian.”
Again, note the chronological date, close to the birth year of Jigme Lingpa. I hold the parable of the Tenant to be one of the top five demonstrations of magical realism coming from CC. Make what you will of this shamanic fable. There is a lot there to unpack and I am certain that the timing so close to 1750 is significant and lends veracity to the fable.
The Sunrise Omen
I believe that I have described my own experiment in negotiating the “death contract.” It happened on two occasions which involved a long four-day ritual of observing the sunrise crescent at the completin of a shift. The negotiation requires exact and intimate knowledge of the celestial setting at the moment of the ritual. How are these conditions to be determined? In my case, I was given the information somewhere along the way in pre-Terma days. It did not come as DI exactly, but merely as a clear and certain insight. I knew beforehand what to look for so that I could conduct the ritual at the right moment. In my case, as in every case, the celestial conditions are unique to the individual, but there are a limited number of variations keyed to specifc constellations. For me the moment to negotiate for life extension was to occur when the sunset crescent appeared beneath Kerista (Capella), the bright star that marks “the glittering Kid.” I had developed the visualization of Auriga (the Charioteer) as the image of the Grail King with a kid goat on his shoulder. At the moment each year, and only at that moment, when the sunrise crescent appeared beneath Kerista in that constellation, I had the opportunity to negotiation with the D-force for life extension.
The constellation of Auriga, the Grail King. The blue line from +20 to +20 is the ecliptic. The moon appears either five degrees above or below this line, hence in the BULL or TWINS. Auriga shares the star El Nath at the foot of the Grail King with the BULL, marking the tip of the upper horn. This is the star of Morbido.
Tibetan tradition regarding JL states that the opportunity to negotiate the time of death is the unique privilege of tertons. Why? They say it is due to the fact that the wisdom treasures they receive and transmit to future generations are exceptionally precious and essential to the survival of the lineage. I take exception to this rule and I will make an exception by explaining how anyone can undertake the negotiation.
Here are the steps for arriving at the tableau of the sunrise omen:
1, Find the exact location by degree of the moon in your natal pattern.
2, Go to the exact opposite degree.
3, Calculate 30 degrees ahead in the natural order of the zodiac and 30 degrees behind, offset from the opposite point of the natal moon.
4, Determine if the moon in your natal template is waning or waxing at birth.
5, If it is waxing, select the 30-degree offset position earlier (behind) in the natural order, and if it is waning select the 30-degree offset later (ahead) in the natural order.
6, The exact degree of the offset position chosen locates the area of the sky where the sunrise crescent pertinent to your negotiation occurs. Not at that exact degree itself, but wherever the sunrise crescent will occur in the tableau where it occurs. In other words, you find the conclusion of the related lunar shift that places the sunrise crescent in that tableau.
Tableau for the 2015 negotiation for JLL: 5:30 AM, 10 August 2015, Gaucin, Spain. The ritual covers a three- or four-day period when the moon transits the tableau, giving a range of about 36-40 degrees within which the cresent occurs. In this shot, the moon is near the lower horntip of the BULL at 86 ECL with Kerista at 83 ECL. That is the closest point of alignment during the three or four days. The mythopoetic display of the omen happens “when the sunrise crescent stands beneath the Glittering Kid.”
Previous to 2015, I had taken two opportunities to undertake the negotiation. In that year, I chose to forgo the negotiation. Due to another omen, I had detected an end date encoded in the number “271.” Meaning, I would live to a full 71 years of age, when I turned 72 (one degree of precession). That was on December 3, 2016. I did not die on that date, but Nikita did. She took the hit for me. Funny thing, but since turning 72 I have not been able to reckon the continuing passage of time. It is difficult for my mind to compute the ensuring years. It seems that I could not have lived longer than the full 71 years. Still, a good many years later, I sense that I only reached 72 and not beyond. This is a strange, persisting intuition which I cannot escape even though it is clear from physical conditions that I suffer certain effects of advanced age.
Demonstration of the Technique
Suppose that the natal moon degree is 5 Sagittarius. The opposite point is 5 Gemini with the two offsets at 5 Taurus, earlier or behind in the natural order) and 5 Cancer, later or ahead in the natural order. The moon is waning so the set-point for the omen is ahead in the zodiac at 5 Cancer in the feet of the Twins. On August 2, 2024, at 6:15 AM, the moon is at 100 ECL in the TWINS, aligned to Kerista. Thus, this omen is the same as mine.
Now pay close attention: When I decided to introduce this ritual, I naturally went to my own example to illustrate it. But my example is exceptional, being specific to the privilege of tertons, and not for everyone. Or is it? I did not work out the calculation for determining the moment that anyone can observe the omen, using the two offsets from the opposite degree of the waxing of waning moon. I merely wrote it down rapidly and extemporaneously an a slip of paper, without consideration if it were correct or not. The only thing I had to do conceptually was double-check the waxing and waning factors against the choice of offsets. I knew it would be correct. I have never made this calculation before, yet I knew without having to work out why it was correct, that it was correct.
Then, for an example other than my own, a pulled a case out of a file of friends, randomly. It so happens that the individual has the moon in 4 Sagittarius, close to mine in 3 Sagittarius, but I did not make anything of that — at first. So, the procedure for locating the omen in a tableau at the moment of a shift was the same as mine: go to the degree opposite the moon and find the 30-degree offset. How did that idea come to me? It turned out that without knowing it, I was checking my own case. But hold on: I did not derive the formula of calculation from my own case. On the contrary, I assumed that my case would be exceptional due to the terton status. I figured that it would not adhere to the same formula I was intending to propose for anyone of non-terton status.
But it does. My case does fit the formula for the offset of the waning moon. I had assumed that my case was outside the norm, even before I had stated the formula that defines the norm. I figured I was stating a unique rule for others. It turns out that my case proves the norm in a way that I did not anticipate or contrive in advance, even though it is particular to the terton. In other words, the random case I chose which happens to feature the waning moon in 5 Sagittarius, matched to my own, proves the rule on my case, the tertonic exception. Figure it.
The conclusion is, the case I chose and myself share the same omen of the sunrise crescent. And that will be so within margins for all who have the moon close to the same location in the natal template. Obviously.
Divinatory Criteria
In Celestics, the moon denotes the faculty of prescience, seeing or sensing things in advance. Until it arrives, death is always in advance of the present moment. It’s out there in lookahead time. Anyone who cares to undertake this exercise will be applying prescience to that moment, but not necessarily shifting or advancing it. I do not preclude the possibility that you can do that, i.e, literally renegotiate the moment. It could be done. Rather, I propose that you regard this ritual as a way to situate your life in the perspective of its conclusion. Does that make any sense?
This ritual is precise and highly demanding. Staying up until dawn for three or four days in a row is already quite a challenge. Sky conditions must be impeccable with a clear view to the east. Depending on the time of year, you may have to bundle up to stay warm. Ideally, you conduct the ritual in an altered state.
So much for the physical conditions. Mental and emotional preparation is also rigorous. It cannot be attempted unless you first are confident in skywatching to the extent that you can spot all the zodiacal constellations as well as extra-ecliptic figures, and you have a running inventory of the mythemes and narratives correlated to them. You have to be familiar with the skyscape where the omen will occur, so that you resonate emotionally and imaginatively with the celestial panorama.
Needless to say, if you know the sky and the mythopoetic content of your own manifold, you will already be more strongly aligned with some figures rather than others. Likewise, working with the Shakti Cluster correlations to the zodiac, you will have established some strong affinities here and there. You do not have to dismiss or downplay any of these established factors to do the ritual. All such factors are relevant to your life pattern in linear time. Rather, you allow that the formula is a special tool of direction that orients you to the impending event of the conclusion of your life pattern. The tableau around the sunrise crescent is a prescient glimpse of closure and summation, not only of how you will have lived but also of how you aspire and dream to have lived.
The exact moment of observing the omen is compelling and all-consuming. It consists of bringing together two vivid experiential impressions: your presence mirrored in the full tableau of the sky, and your sense of reaching the totality of yourself as you behold that mirroring.
The meme of reaching the totality of yourself comes from Castaneda. Is application here is pertinent and instructive. You reach the totality of yourself involuntarily in the death-event, but rarely at any moment in life.
The Terrascope