What is the Nagual?
QUESTION: I'd like to hear your version of what the nagual is, or isn't, or might be. At the same time I'm going to confess that I have asked pretty much the same question on a few other lists and groups and all I've heard for the most part is a lot of parroting of something don Juan said or Carlos said and even though that's supposed to be some authority, the definitions I've heard are more like evasive maneuvers than any sort of thoughtful response.
What is the nagual? What is God? What is the meaning of life? What is the secret of the universe?
Before attempting to answer any of those questions, it's important for the seeker to determine the reason for the qustion itself. You speak of resonance and a desire to understand the nagual in correlation to your path as it applies to action - Do-ing. So it is from that perspective I will respond, with the open invitation for an expansion of the conversation leading from there.
The nagual is, in essence, the untapped potential of all of creation. If the tonal represents the energy which is in use (the universe, the worlds, the trees, the 4 elements, and all the concepts & ideas required to hold that milieu intact), the nagual may be seen to represent the raw unused energy available to creation through the tools of intent, will and what some may call sorcery. If the tonal is matter, the nagual is anti-matter (speaking purely from an energetic perspective that applies to the potential for Do-ing.)
The sorcerer's trick as it applies to Do-ing is to discover the connection point of resonance between intent and manifestation-of-intent. Put another way, the sorcerer's trick is to find his personal frequency within the nagual, so that the untapped energy OF the nagual may be channeled into manifestation within the tonal, or simply experienced in its natural state, if that is your desire.
And again I must reiterate that this is only an attempt to define the nagual is it appears to correlate to your specific question.
From a broader perspective, it might be observed that the nagual is the unfulfilled potential for experience. It is the dark matter of creation, yet it is neither matter nor energy if looked at from a desire to quantify its existence. It exists yet cannot be categorized. It may be experienced, but once experienced will most often become an extension of the tonal, as it moves from possibility into actuality.
When talking about the nagual, one can really only do so from within the limitations of the tonal, and therein lies the delight and the irony of the nagual. It could be said that the nagual is the darkness from which the light comes... and yet darkness is a thing of the tonal once it becomes defined. It could be said that the nagual is the raw energy of creation from which all things come into manifestation, and yet to place the label of "raw energy" onto the nagual is to limit it in the attempt to define it.
What is the nagual? It is the the intersection of infinity and eternity - that which is timeless and that which is without boundaries. Within that milieu, we exist as the limitless potential, which is accessed through awareness, with the tool of unending intent.
Is the nagual self or other? Both. Because it is the raw energy of creation, it is what you make of it, and yet at the same time(lessness) it is simply and wholly impersonal and altogether indifferent except as it is moved upon by the force of Intent.
In many creation myths, there is the notion that awareness comes from the nagual, like a spark of spontaneous parthenogenesis. First Man called himself forth from the nothing through the force of will, with the concept which is caught in the words, "I-Am." That, too, is one face of the nagual - the breeding ground of energy from which all beings claim a spark that is unique unto themselves and bring it forth into manifestation within the tonal of Life.
Whether the spark of awareness grows to a singularity of consciousness determines whether that awareness transcends the tonal, or whether it returns to the nagual as raw energy returning to its source. This is the realm of free will.
There are those who would say that the nagual is stronger or better, and there are those who would say that the tonal is the only real milieu of Man. And yet, it is the dynamic tension between the two which determines not only one's personal power, but also one's ability to evolve beyond the component aspects of both tonal and nagual, and into the infinite & eternal singularity of consciousness... from which the next journey begins.
What is the nagual? Put simply... it is what you make of it. And it is what you make of you.
Orlando - November 16, 2007
All material in this blog (essays, rants, images, poetry, et al) is copyright © by Della Van Hise, and may not be reprinted elsewhere without the prior written permission of the author. Quantum ShamanTM is a trademark of QuantumShaman.ComTM and reserves all rights to this material. This includes all print and electronic media, including other blogs, other websites, and so on. Thanks for respecting copyrights.