Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
*ASTRAL LIGHT

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3 8 INITIATION CEREMONY

om binah, while the banner with the cross refers to the four rivers of paradise and the letters of the holy name. he also is axieros, the first of the samothracian kabiri, as well as zeus and osiris. the left hand figure below, rising from the earth is samael, the ruler of volcanic fire. he is also axiokersos, the 2nd kabir, pluto and typhon. the right hand figure below is anadl, the ruler of the astral light. she is also axiokersa, the third kabir, ceres and proserpina, isis and nephthys. she is therefore represented in a duplicate form and rising from the water. around both these figures dart flashes of lightning. these 3 principal figures form the fire triangle, and further represent fire operating in the other three elements of air, earth, and water. the central lower figure with his b

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

levi undertook the task of re-habilitating it two generations ago. but even he (profoundly as he studied, and luminously as he expounded, the nature of magick considered as a universal formula) paid no attention whatever to that question of the magical link, though he everywhere implies that it is essential to the work. he evaded the question by making the "petitio principii" of assigning to the astral light the power of transmitting vibrations of all kinds. he nowhere enters into detail as to how its effects are produced. he does not inform us as to the qualitative or quantitative laws of this light (the scientifically trained student will observe the analogy between levi's postulate and that of ordinary science "in re" the luminiferous ether) it is deplorable that nobody should have rec

owhere enters into detail as to how its effects are produced. he does not inform us as to the qualitative or quantitative laws of this light (the scientifically trained student will observe the analogy between levi's postulate and that of ordinary science "in re" the luminiferous ether) it is deplorable that nobody should have recorded in a systematic form the results of our investigations of the astral light. we have no account of its properties or of the laws which obtain in its sphere. yet these are sufficiently remarkable. we may briefly notice that, in the astral light, two or more objects can 109 occupy the same space at the same time without interfering with each other or losing their outlines. in that light, objects can change their appearance completely without suffering change of

lows. in that light one is "swift without feet and flying without wings; one can travel without moving, and communicate without conventional means of expression. one is insensible to heat, cold, pain, and other forms of apprehension, at least in the shapes which are familiar to us in our bodily vehicles. they exist, but they are appreciated by us, and they affect us, in a different manner. in the astral light we are bound by what is, superficially, an entirely different series of laws. we meet with obstacles of a strange and subtle character; and we overcome them by an energy and cunning of an order entirely alien to that which serves us in earthly life. in that light, symbols are not conventions but realities, yet (on the contrary) the beings whom we encounter are only symbols of the real

what we are doing. in the same way a watchmaker uses a lens, though it exaggerates and thus falsifies the image of the system of wheels which he is trying to adjust. in the same way, a writer employs arbitrary characters according to a meaningless convention in order to enable his reader by retranslating them to obtain an approximation to his idea. such are a few of the principal characteristics astral light. its quantitative laws are much less dissimilar from those of material physics. magicians have too often been foolish enough to suppose that all classes of magical operations were equally easy. they seem to have assumed that the "almighty power of god" was an infinite quantity in presence of which all finites were equally insignificant "one day is with the lord as a thousand years" is

therefore, be an object suitable to the nature of our operation, and we must have some such means of applying its force to such a way as will naturally compel the obedience of the portion of nature which we are trying to change. if one will the death of a sinner, it is not sufficient to hate him, even if we grant that the vibrations of thought, when sufficiently powerful and pure, may modify the astral light sufficiently to impress its intention to a certain extent on such people as happen to be sensitive. it is much surer to use one's mind and muscle in service of that hate by devising and making a dagger, and then applying the dagger to the heart of one's enemy. one must give one's hate a bodily form of the same order as that which one's enemy has taken for his manifestation. your spiri

mple? can this obvious common-sense course be really that marvellous magick that frightens folk so? yes, even this triviality is one instance of how magick works. but the above practical programme may be a fiasco. one might then resort to magick in the conventional sense of the word, by constructing and charging a pantacle appropriate to the object; this pantacle should then cause a strain in the astral light such that the vibrations would compel some alien consciousness to restore equilibrium by bringing the book. suppose a severer and more serious aim; suppose that i wish to win a woman who dislikes me and loves somebody else. in this case, not only her will, but her lover's must be overcome by my own. i have no direct control of either. but my will is in touch with the woman's by means

s occupied by quasi-heraldic animals and human types hieroglyphically distinguished, who carry on the mysterious operations of the hermetic art. there are also "planes" of parable, of fable, and of folk-lore; in short, every country, creed, and literature has given its characteristic mode of presentation to some "plane" or other. but there are "planes" proper to every clairvoyant who explores the astral light without prejudice; in such case, things assume the form of his own mind, and his perception will be clear in proportion to his personal purity. on the higher planes, the diversity of form, due to grossness, tends to disappear. thus, the astral vision of "isis" is utterly unlike that of "kali. the one is of motherhood and wisdom, ineffably candid, clear, and loving; the other of murder

ane, that man's breath stirs the feather of truth. what 252 one sees and hears is "real" in its way, whether it be itself, or distorted by one's desires, or created by one's personality. there is no touchstone of truth: the authentic nakhiel is indistinguishable from the image of the magician's private idea of nakhiel, so far as he is concerned. the stronger one is to create, the more readily the astral light responds, and coagulates creatures of this kind. not that such creation is necessarily an error; but it is another branch of one's work. one cannot obtain outside help from inside sources. one must use precautions similar to those recommended in the chapter of divination. the magician may go on for a long time being fooled and flattered by the astrals that he has himself modified or m

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE QABALAH

er 418. this number is chiefly important for part ii. it is of no account in the orthodox dogmatic qabalah. yet it is 12 13, the most spiritual form, 13 of the most perfect number, 12, awh [it is wyx, zion, the city of the pyramids. ed.]51 175. a mystic number of venus. 203. abr, initials of ba, b, jwr, the trinity.52 206. rbd, speech, the word of power. 207. rwa, light. contrast with bwa, 9, the astral light, and dwa, 11, the magical light. aub is an illusory thing of witchcraft (cf. obi, obeah; aud is almost= the kundalini force( odic force. this illustrates well the difference between the sluggish, viscous 9, and the keen, ecstatic 11.53 210. pertains to part ii. see liber 418. 214. jwr, the air, the mind. 220. pertains to part ii. the number of verses in liber legis. 231. the sum of th

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 5

418. this number is chiefly important for part ii. it is of no account in the orthodox dogmatic qabalah. yet it is 12 x 13, the most spiritual form, 13, of the most perfect number, 12, hva [it is tzivn, zion, the city of the pyramids- ed] 175. a mystic number of venus. 203. abr, initials of ab, bn, rvch, the trinity. 206. dbr, speech "the word of power" 207. avr, light. contrast with avb, 9, the astral light, and avd, 11, the magical light. aub is an illusory thing of witchcraft("cf" obi, obeah; aud is almost= the kundalini force("odic" force. this illustrates well the difference between the sluggish, viscous 9, and the keen, ecstatic 11. 210. pertains to part ii. see liber 418. 214. rvch, the air, the mind. 220. pertains to part ii. the number of verses in liber legis. 231. the sum of th

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2 2

ted as rising from the top center of the altar. the base and top of the detachable altar are depicted with rectangular copings extending slightly beyond the body, upper one thicker. the heptagram itself refers to the seven days of the week, and may also be made to show how their order is derived from the planets when placed at the angles of the heptagram. the lamp within the centre represents the astral light of the universe concentrated into a focus by the planets" the "hierophant" then resumes "within the mystic veil which separated the holy place from the holy of holies stood the ark of the covenant. before the veil stood the altar of incense, of which this altar is a symbol. it was in the form of a double cube, thus representing material form as the reflection and the duplication of th

lained in a g. d. manuscript entitled "of travelling in the spirit vision" in which this particular form of gaining contact, so to speak, with the higher will is explained as follows: the symbol, place, direction or plane being known whereon it is desired to act, a thought-ray is sent unto the corresponding part of the sphere of sensations, and thence by drawing a basis of action from the refined astral light of the sphere of sensations of the nephesch, the thought-ray is sent like an arrow from a bow right through the circumference of the sphere of sensations direct into the place desired. arriving here a sphere of astral light is formed by the agency of the lower will illuminated by the higher will, and, acting through the spiritual consciousness, by reflection along 40 magical mirror of

a bow right through the circumference of the sphere of sensations direct into the place desired. arriving here a sphere of astral light is formed by the agency of the lower will illuminated by the higher will, and, acting through the spiritual consciousness, by reflection along 40 magical mirror of the universe. 41 or a cutting off of the higher from the lower will. the thought-ray, the sphere of astral light is partly drawn from the nephesch, and partly from the surrounding atmosphere. this sphere being formed, a "simulacrum" of the person of the skryer is "reflected" into it along the thought-ray, and the united consciousness is then projected therein. this sphere is therefore a duplicate reflection of the sphere of sensations. as it is said "believe thyself to be in a place, and thou ar

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2

peculiar grace condescends- may one say- to this level, just as a father may join in the games of his child, thus gaining its sympathy and confidence as a basis for a higher union. xv "the mind of the father riding on the subtle guiders which glitter with the inflexible tracings of relentless fire "the oracles assert that the types of characters and of other divine visions appear in the ether (or astral light" zoroaster "san n a- chief among the phenomena of san n a, in the case of the beginner trying to concentrate his mind, are those 71 disturbing thoughts which analyse the very process itself. harder to destroy are they than the others, since they come no longer from memory or physical conditions, but from the practice itself, so that they cannot be shut off, but must needs be faced and

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3 2

understanding of the peace of god.73 all this is the knowledge of hoor-po-krat-ist unto whom be the glory for ever and ever, world without end [the usual banishings, consecrations &c, are performed in temple of 0= 0. the forces of spirit are first invoked by the supreme ritual of the pentagram and the enochian keys. add hexagram ritual of binah and her invocation] come unto me, thoth, lord of the astral light! i adjure thee, o light invisible, intangible, wherein all thoughts and deeds are written; i adjure thee by thoth, thy lord and god; by the symbols and the words of power: by the light of my godhead in thy midst: by the lord harpocrates, the god of this mine operation: that thou leave thine abodes and habitations, to concentrate about me, invisible, intangible, as a shroud of darkness

in the great names exarp, hcoma, nanta and bitom,75 by the mysterious letters and sigils of the great tablet of union.76 by the mighty names of god ahih, agla, ihvh, alhim. by the great god harpocrates; by your deep purple darkness; by my white and brilliant light do i conjure ye: collect yourselves together about me: clothe this astral form with a shroud of darkness: gather, o gather, flakes of astral light: shroud, shroud my form in your substantial night: clothe me and hide me, at my charm's control; darken man's eyes and blind him in his soul! gather, o gather, at my word divine, ye are the watchers and my soul the shrine [let formulate the idea of becoming invisible; imagine the results of success: then say] let the shroud of concealment encircle me at a distance of ten inches from t

ohim! in the name hoor-po-krat-ist and by the name hoor-po-krat-ist! by your deep purple darkness! by my white brilliant light! i invoke ye: i conjure ye: i exorcise ye potently: i command and constrain ye: i compel ye to utter, absolute and instant obedience, and that without deception or delay_ for why? the light of godhead is my trust and i have made ihvh mine hope "gather, o gather, flakes of astral light: shroud, shroud my form in your substantial night: 276 clothe me and hide me, at my charm's control; darken man's eyes and bind him in his soul! gather, o gather, at my word divine, ye are the watchers and my soul the shrine [turn round three times] in the name of the lord of the universe and by the power of mine own higher soul and by the aspiration of thine higher soul i conjure the

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3

ground to a powder and scattered abroad: if a hard substance, as metal, it must be decharged, banished and thrown aside: or if a flame of fire, it shall be extinguished: or if a vial containing air it shall be opened, and after that shall be rinsed out with pure water. hb:shin book iii part hb:aleph: invisibility. a. the shroud of concealment. b. the magician. c. the guards of concealment. d. the astral light to be moulded into the shroud. e. the equation of the symbols in the sphere of sensation. f. the invocation of the higher: the placing of a barrier without the astral form: the clothing of the same with obscurity through the proper invocation. g. formulating clearly the idea of becoming invisible: the formulation of the exact distance at which the shroud should surround the physical b

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 6 2

ah" isis unveiled: a master key to the mysteries of ancient and modern science and theology. by h. p. blavatshy. in two volumes. vol. i. science, pp. xiv, 628. vol. ii. theology, pp. iv, 640 and index 52 "pounds"1, 1"s. net" vol. i- before the veil- 1. old things with new names- ii. phenomena and forces- iii. blind leaders of the blind- iv. theories respecting psychic phenomena- v. the ether, or "astral light- vi. psycho-physical phenomena- vii. the elements, elementals, and elementaries- viii. some mysteries of nature- ix. cyclic phenomena- x. the inner and outer man- xi. psychological and physical marvels- xii. the "impassible chasm- xiii. realities and illusion- xiv. egyptian wisdom- xv. india the cradle of the race. vol. ii- i. the church; where is it- ii. christian crimes and heathen

ALICE A BAILEY02 INITIATION HUMAN AND SOLAR

the densest part of the logoic body, he can ascertain much concerning the previous solar system, and the facts anent the first round of our scheme. this secret is also called "the mystery of matter" at the second initiation "the secret of the sea" is unfolded to him, and through this revelation two subjects of profound interest become clarified to his inner vision. they are: a. the mystery of the astral light. b. the law of karma. he is, after this, in a position to do two things, without which he cannot work off that which hinders, and thus achieve liberation; he can read the akashic records and ascertain the past, thereby enabling himself to work intelligently in the present, and he can begin to balance his karma, to work off his obligations, and to understand how karma in the three worl

ALICE A BAILEY04 A TREATISE ON COSMIC FIRE

r how this question can be expressed in terms of fire: objectively subjectively 1. the sea of fire..1. our god is a consuming fire..e. nergising will 2. the akasha..2. the light of god..f.orm aspect. 3. the aether..3. the heat of matter..activity aspect. 4. the air..4. the illumination of the intuition- 156- a treatise on cosmic fire copyright 1998 lucis trust 5. fire..5. the fire of mind. 6. the astral light..6. the heat of the emotions. 7. physical plane electricity..7. kundalini and prana. spiritually. this is hid in a threefold mystery: 1. the mystery of electricity. 2. the mystery of the seven constellations. 3. the mystery of the one above the logos. 4. the heavenly men and man. the final part of question six is: who are the manasaputras? this will be dealt with in greater detail in

standpoint, and the vehicle through which all is transmitted to that portion of the logoic physical body which corresponds to the brain in man. i can elucidate this no further, but the few words here imparted open up a tremendous range of thought, and give the key to much which transpires and which is distressing in solar evolution as well as human. second. those devas who are the sumtotal of the astral light. they are the agents of the karmic lords, who are in themselves deva entities of an inconceivably advanced evolution and who, in their own substance, 1. record. 2. produce effects from cause. 3. direct force. this particular group of devas emanate from a great force centre which we generalise by calling it by the name of the sun sirius. sirius-kama-manas the cosmic astral plane and th

ginnings of that mysterious divergence which we call the "left and right hand paths" which conditions (existing within the body logoic and consequently being part of the divine consciousness) originated in the remote "space of time" when the sons of god were seeking form. it has to do with a special condition in the astral body of our planetary logos, and with his history as it lies hidden in the astral light. it concerns that which he has to surmount and many of the problems which face the occultist, including the "sin of the mindless" the failure in atlantean days, and even that mysterious "failure" of the buddha (which has a planetary significance only hinted at in the secret doctrine)18(190) can be traced back to the condition of the deva substance of which the astral body of our plane

stration of this, we should bear in mind that the more advanced humanity of today did not incarnate until the fourth root race. these cycles are one of the mysteries of initiation, though one of the earlier mysteries, and are revealed at the second initiation as they enable the initiate to comprehend his position, to see somewhat the nature of the karmic impulse, and to read his own record in the astral light. these might be considered the two lesser pralayic periods and concern primarily life in the three worlds (3) next comes the period wherein the man has attained freedom. a man has at this stage succeeded, under law, in "abstracting" himself, the freed soul, from out of the matter of the three worlds. he has used and worked with deva substance and has gained all the vibratory contact p

this, the watery stage, to the place the astral plane holds in the planetary and systemic body, and the alliance between mind and heart which is hidden in the term "kama-manas" one of the profoundest occult mysteries will be revealed to the consciousness of man when he has solved the secret of the building of his astral vehicle, and the forming of the link which exists between that sheath and the astral light in its totality on the astral plane. 5. the etheric. the stage is not to be confined to the building of the physical body in its etheric division, for its counterpart is found on all the planes with which man is concerned in the three worlds. the condensation and the solidification of the material has proceeded till now the three groups of pitris form a unity in work. the rhythm set u

ychic. when the real nature and method of the kundalini, or serpent fire, is known, this relation will be better understood, and the history of the second round assume a new importance- 528- a treatise on cosmic fire copyright 1998 lucis trust the secret of life lies hidden in the serpent stage, not the life of the spirit, but the life of the soul, and this will be revealed as the "serpent of the astral light" is truly approached, and duly studied. one of the four lipika lords, who stand nearest to our planetary logos, is called "the living serpent" and his emblem is a serpent of blue with one eye, in the form of a ruby, in its head. students who care to carry the symbology a little further can connect this idea with the "eye of shiva" which sees and knows all, and records all, as does the

f the four lipika lords, who stand nearest to our planetary logos, is called "the living serpent" and his emblem is a serpent of blue with one eye, in the form of a ruby, in its head. students who care to carry the symbology a little further can connect this idea with the "eye of shiva" which sees and knows all, and records all, as does the human eye in lesser degree; all is photographed upon the astral light, as the human eye receives impressions upon the retina. the same thought is frequently conveyed in the christian bible, in the hebrew and christian recognition of the all-seeing eye of god. the application and value of the hints here given may be apparent if the subject of the third eye is studied, and its relation to the spine, and the spinal currents investigated. this third eye is

can be directly traced to the wrong manipulation of mental matter by man; to erroneous conceptions as to the nature of matter itself, and to dangerous conditions brought about by the united creative attempts of human beings down the centuries. misunderstandings have arisen as to the purpose of the vital fluids of the universe and this has added to the distress, as have certain distortions of the astral light, producing a subsidiary or secondary glamour, or reflected light which intensifies the maya already created. this secondary reflection has been produced by man himself in the evolutionary attempt to balance the pairs of opposites, and has produced a condition which must be surmounted before the true occult balancing begins. it might be regarded as the sumtotal of that great manifestat

uitional plane..4th cosmic ether. 5. mental plane..ego..gaseous plane. 6. astral plane. liquid plane. 7. physical..gross. 2. the seven differentiations in terms of fiery energy are: a. plane of divine life..father..sea of fire. b. plane of monadic life..son..akasha. c. plane of atma..h. oly ghost..aether. d. plane of buddhi, intuition..c. entral..a. ir. e. plane of mind..fire. f. plane of desire..astral light- 798- a treatise on cosmic fire copyright 1998 lucis trust g. plane of physical..ether thought..t. houghtforms..materialisation. microcosm..macrocosm. 3. planes of logoic evolution..t.he seven planes. p lanes of son's evolution..the six planes. p lanes of monadic evolution..the five planes. p lanes of human evolution..the three worlds. seven is the number of the totality of manifestat

owledge. isis unveiled, ii, 99, 189. 7. magic does not imply a transgression of the laws of nature. isis unveiled, i, preface. the basis of magic. 1. magic is based on the inner powers in man's soul. isis unveiled, i, 459. 2. the trinity of nature is the lock of magic, the trinity of man the key that fits it. isis unveiled, ii, 635. 3. magic is occult psychology. isis unveiled, i, 612-616. 4. the astral light is the chief agent of magic. isis unveiled, i, 128, 616; s. d, i, 275; ii, 537. 259 93: magic. the very word magic bears within itself proof of its high origin. the latin magus, the greek magos, a magician, gives us all those other words that are so indicative of authority, wisdom, superiority. then we have magnitude, magnificent, magniloquent, to express greatness in position, in act

right 1998 lucis trust originally spelled magha. to be sure, there is in the sanskrit the word maga meaning a priest of the sun, but this was evidently a later borrowing from the zend which had originally derived its root from its neighbor the sanskrit. lucifer, vol. x, p. 157. 260) 94:magic. the art of divine magic consists in the ability to perceive the essence of things in the light of nature (astral light, and by using the soul-powers of the spirit to produce material things from the unseen universe, and in such operations the above and the below must be brought together and made to act harmoniously. s. d, ii, 538. magic is the second of the four vidyas, and is the great maha-vidya in the tantric writings. it needs the light of the fourth vidya (atmavidya) thrown on it in order to be w

universe, and in such operations the above and the below must be brought together and made to act harmoniously. s. d, ii, 538. magic is the second of the four vidyas, and is the great maha-vidya in the tantric writings. it needs the light of the fourth vidya (atmavidya) thrown on it in order to be white magic. s. d, i, 192. black magic is defined by h. p. b. as follows: a. black magic employs the astral light for purposes of deception and seduction, whereas the white magician employs it for purposes of information, and the aiding of evolution. s. d, i, 274. b. black magic works with opposing poles. the white magician seeks the point of equilibrium or balance, and of synthesis. s. d, i, 448. c. black magic has for its symbol the inverted 5-pointed star. white magic uses the same symbol with

ALICE A BAILEY05 THE LIGHT OF THE SOUL

ificant that in the preceding sutra only the mind and the physical body were dealt with. in this sutra the emotional nature, expressing itself through desire fails to be influenced by the pull of any attractive force. the astral body becomes quiescent and non-assertive, unresponsive to any lure from the world of illusion. there is a great mystery concerned with the astral body of man and with the astral light, and the nature of the mystery is still only known to advanced initiates. the astral light is thrown into objectivity by two producing factors, and the astral body of a man is responsive to two types of- 120- the light of the soul copyright 1998 lucis trust energy. they seem essentially in themselves to lack character or form but to be dependent for manifestation upon "that which is a

t he akasha .g od the son. love- wisdom. plane lii. spiritual or atmic. the aether. god the holy- ghost. active intelligence. the plane of union or atonement plane iv. christ or buddhic .a ir .u nion. harmony. at-one-ment- 185- the light of the soul copyright 1998 lucis trust planes of human endeavor. plane v. mental. fire. reflection of the sea of fire. human will. plane vi. emotional or astral. astral light. reflection of the akasha .h uman love and desire. plane vii. physical. ether. reflection of the aether. human activity. on all these planes, consciousness manifests and the senses, exoteric and esoteric, produce contacts. plane i. fire. the breath. ii. a kasha .t he sound .h earing. the ear. iii. aether. vibratory-response. touch. the skin. iv. a ir .v ision. sight. the eye. v. fire

tically by the aspirant when he realizes that when the voices of desire (astral voices or vibratory response to the second aspect of the reflection, the three lower planes) are superseded by the voice of the silence or of the christ within, then the word or sound is known and the second aspect of divinity is contacted. 1. the akasha..the word..the sound..the second aspect in manifestation. 2. the astral light..the voices of desire..the reflection of the second aspect. there are many sounds to be heard on all the planes but on the physical is the greatest diversity. the aspirant has to develop the power to distinguish between: 1. the voices of earth..physical, 2. the voices of desire..astral, 3. the speech or formulated thoughts of the mind..mental, 4. the still small voice of the christ wi

ALICE A BAILEY08 A TREATISE ON WHITE MAGIC

nd blends its warmth and flame with the warmth and flame of other evolving lives. finally, mind disrupts and destroys whilst love produces coherence and heals. every change, in human life, is subject to immutable laws, if such a paradoxical statement may be permitted. in the attempt to find out those laws, in order to conform to them, the occultist begins to offset karma, and thus colours not the astral light. the only method whereby these laws can as yet be apprehended by the many who are interested is by a close study of the vicissitudes of daily existence, as spread over a long period of years. by the outstanding features of a cycle of ten years, for instance, as they are contrasted with the preceding or succeeding similar period a student can approximate the trend of affairs and guide

l note that in the first case you have wisdom or availability on buddhic or intuitional levels; in the second case you- 106- a treatise on white magic copyright 1998 lucis trust have transmission from the causal body, from the higher mental levels; in the third case you have sufficient development to enable the aspirant to receive dictation. in the fourth case, you have the ability to read in the astral light but frequently no ability to differentiate between that which is past, that which is, and that which will be. therefore you have illusion and inaccuracy. this is a method, however, sometimes used but unless directly used under stimulation applied by a master it is liable to be most misleading, as is its corollary, astral clairaudience. it is the method of mental clairvoyance, and requ

ul utilizing the "chitta" or mental substance in order to create the needed thought forms, and so express the ideas and purposes of the intelligent loving soul. these are recognized by the brain and are photographed upon the "vital airs" found in the brain cavity. when these vital airs can be sensed by the magician in meditation, and the thought-forms imprinted on this miniature reflection of the astral light, then the real potency in magic can begin to make itself felt. the brain has "heard" occultly the injunctions and instructions of the mind as it relays the behests of the soul. the vital airs are swept into form-making activity just as their higher correspondence, the "modifications of the thinking principle, the mind stuff (as patanjali calls it, are thrown into an analogous form-mak

ive his life to that which he has made. let him project the forms created on the mountain top in such a way that they can cleave the clouds which circle round the ball of earth, and carry light and power. these shall dispel the veil of forms which hide the true abode of earth from the eye of the beholder" such is the end of the magical work. it involves the discovery that the astral plane and the astral light so-called are but the cinematographs created by man himself. what man has created he can also destroy. more as to the magical work i may not at this time give. the words that blend may not under any circumstances be given except under the oath of secrecy which governs automatically the pledged disciple; these oaths are given to no man but are rendered by the aspirant to his own soul w

ALICE A BAILEY09 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME I ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY I

e is gradually making its presence felt. these types of light are: 1. the light of the sun- 71- a treatise on the seven rays- volume i: esoteric psychology i copyright 1998 lucis trust 2. the light in the planet itself not the reflected light of the sun but its own inherent radiance. 3. a light seeping in (if i may use such a phrase) from the astral plane, a steady and gradual penetration of the "astral light" and its fusion with the other two types of radiance. 4. a light which is beginning to merge itself with the other three types and which comes from that state of matter which we call the mental plane a light in its turn reflected from the realm of the soul. an intensification of the light is going on all the time, and this increase in intensity began on the earth at about the time whe

ctively or behind the scenes, but behind them both stands now the lord of the fifth ray of knowledge and understanding. one point of interest might here be noted. it is known esoterically that the vegetable kingdom is the transmitter and the transformer of the vital pranic fluid to the other forms of life on our planet. that is its divine and unique function. this pranic fluid, in its form of the astral light, is the reflector of the divine akasha. the second plane therefore reflects itself in the astral plane. those who seek to read the akashic records, or who endeavour to work upon the astral plane with impunity, and there to study the reflection of events in the astral light correctly, have perforce and without exception to be strict vegetarians. it is this ancient atlantean lore which

s force and truth to this injunction. it is the failure to conform to this wise rule which has brought about the misinterprertions of the astral and akashic records by many of the psychics of the present time, and has given rise to the wild and incorrect reading of past lives. only those who have been for ten years strict vegetarians can work thus in what might be called the "record aspect of the astral light. when they add to their purified astral and physical bodies the light of reason and illumination of the focussed mind (which is very rarely found, then they become accurate interpreters of astral phenomena. their link with the vegetable kingdom is then very close and- 152- a treatise on the seven rays- volume i: esoteric psychology i copyright 1998 lucis trust unbreakable, and that li

to serve man's material needs. the seventh ray period will familiarise man with that type of electrical phenomena which produce the coordination of all forms. g. the sixth ray influence produced the emergence in men's minds of the following knowledges: 1. knowledge of physical plane light and electricity. 2. among the esotericists and spiritualists of the world, knowledge of the existence of the astral light. 3. an interest in illumination, both physical and mental. 4. astro-physics and the newer astronomical discoveries. the seventh ray will change the theories of the advanced thinkers of the race into the facts of the- 224- a treatise on the seven rays- volume i: esoteric psychology i copyright 1998 lucis trust future educational systems. education and the growth of the understanding of

ALICE A BAILEY20 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME IV ESOTERIC HEALING

ves and has its being. humanity is conditioned by desire good desire, selfish desire, wrong desire, and spiritual desire. it is the centre through which most of the energies flow which make a man progressive because he is ambitious, selfish because his personal desires are of importance, and fluidic because astrally polarised. through it the "bright light generated in atlantis" is poured, and the astral light is contacted. it is therefore the centre through which most mediums work and clairvoyants function. later, these people will learn to work as intermediaries, consciously and intelligently using their powers; they will possess clear perception, and this will supersede clairvoyance. they will then be polarised in the ajna centre. it is consequently a most disturbing centre in the body

ALICE A BAILEY23 THE EXTERNALISATION OF THE HIERARCHY

ntacted in the seance room, it masquerades as myself and where the intuition is unawakened the illusion is complete and real. devotees can therefore tune in with great facility on this illusory form and be completely deceived. its vibration is of a relatively high order. its mental effect is like a beautiful parody of myself and serves to place the deluded devotees in touch with the scroll of the astral light, which is the reflection of the akashic records. these latter are the eternal scroll whereon the plan for our world is inscribed and from which those of us who teach gather our data and much of our information. this, the astral light distorts and steps down. because this is a distorted image and functions in the three worlds of form and has no source of validity higher than those of f

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

ry regions, the spheres of the various elements remain eternally in perfect harmony with the divine nature, he says 'but their parts' owing to a too close proximity to earth, and their commingling with the earthly (which is matter, and therefore the realm of evil 'are sometimes according, and sometimes contrary to (divine) nature' when those circulations- which eliphas levi calls' currents of the astral light- in the universal ether which contains in itself every element, take place in harmony with the divine spirit, our earth and everything pertaining to it enjoys a fertile period. the occult powers of plants, animals, and minerals magically sympathize with the' superior natures' and the divine soul of man is in perfect intelligence with these 'inferior' ones. but during the barren period

h the superior; to effect that one truly wonderful work- which is man. for the secret work of chiram, or king hiram in the kabala "one in essence, but three in aspect" is the universal agent or lapis philosophorum. the culmination of the secret work is spiritual perfect man, at one end of the line; the union of the three elements is the occult solvent in the "soul of the world" the cosmic soul or astral light, at the other; and, on the material plane, it is hydrogen in its relation to the other gases. the to on, truly; the one "whom no person has seen except the son; this sentence applying both to the metaphysical and physical kosmos, and to the spiritual and material man. for how could the latter understand the to on the "one father" if his manas, the "son" does not become (as "one with t

had really existed, and the two cities, though buried for long ages under the vesuvian lava, have had their resurrection day, and live again on the surface of the earth. how many more cities and localities called "fabulous" are on the list of future discoveries, how many more personages regarded as mythical* will one day become historical, those alone can tell who read the decrees of fate in the astral light. as the tenets of the eastern doctrine, however, have always been kept secret, and as the reader can hardly hope to be shown the original texts unless he becomes an accepted disciple, let the greek and latin scholar turn to the original texts of hermetic literature. let him, for one thing, read carefully the opening pages of the pymander of hermes trismegistus; and then he will see ou

o doubted, despaired; threw up white for black magic, went insane and joined the roman church. then again turning round, anathematized her, re-became an atheist, and died cursing humanity, knowledge, and god, in whom he had ceased to believe. furnished with all the esoteric data to write his "war in heaven" he made a semi-political article out of it, mixing malthus with satan, and darwin with the astral light. peace be to his- shell. he is a warning to the chelas who fail. his forgotten tomb may now be seen in the mussulman burial ground of the joonagad, kathiawar, in india* the author talks of the active, fighting, damning jehovah as though he were a synonym of parabrahm! we have quoted from this article to show where it dissents from theosophic teachings; otherwise it would be quoted som

ecret doctrine. heaven originate with st. john, and in his revelation? emphatically we answer- no. his "dragon" is neptune, the symbol of atlantean magic. to demonstrate the negation the reader is asked to examine the symbolism of the serpent or the dragon under its several aspects- the sidereal and cosmic glyphs. every astronomer- besides occultists and astrologers- knows that, figuratively, the astral light, the milky way, and also the path of the sun to the tropics of cancer and capricorn, as well as the circles of the sidereal or tropical year, were always called "serpents" in the allegorical and mystic phraseology of the adepts. this, cosmically, as well as metaphorically. poseidon is a "dragon "chozzar, called by the profane neptune (peratae gnostics; the "good and perfect serpent" t

s not so. the zohar has the following explanation on the practice of magic which is called in hebrew nehhaschim, or the "serpents' works" it says (part iii. col. 302 "it is called nehhaschim, because the magicians (practical kabalists) work surrounded by the light of the primordial serpent, which they perceive in heaven as a luminous zone composed of myriads of small stars. which means simply the astral light, so called by the martinists, by eliphas levi, and now by all the modern occultists (vide sections about- the "curse" from a philosophical point of view. the foregoing teachings of the secret doctrine, supplemented by universal traditions, must now have demonstrated that the brahmanas and puranas, the yathas and other mazdean scriptures[[vol. 2, page] 410 the secret doctrine. down to

an traditions. there were no scholastics nor montanists during vedic times, nor yet far later in china. but christian theology had to be protected and saved. this was only natural. but why should truth be sacrificed in order to protect from destruction the lucubrations of christian theologians? the princeps aeris hujus, the "prince of the air" of st. paul, is not the devil, but the effects of the astral light, as eliphas levi correctly explains. the devil is not "the god of this period" as he says, for it is the deity of every age and period, since man appeared on earth, and matter, in its countless forms and states, had to fight for its evanescent existence against other disintegrating forces. the "dragon" is simply the symbol of the cycle and of the "sons of manvantaric eternity" who had

terium magnum" which differs from that given by eliphas levi, whose genius and crafty intellect had to submit to a certain compromise dictated to him from rome. thus, the true and uncompromising kabalists admit that, for all purposes of science and philosophy, it is enough that the profane should know that the great magic agent called by the followers of the marquis de st. martin- the martinists- astral light, by the mediaeval kabalists and alchemists the sidereal virgin and the mysterium magnum, and by the eastern occultists aether, the reflection of akasa- is that which the church calls lucifer. that the latin scholastics have succeeded in transforming the universal soul and pleroma, the vehicle of light and the receptacle of all the forms, a force spread throughout the whole universe, w

e above-mentioned profane even the secrets hinted at by eliphas levi without adequate explanation; for the latter's policy of veiled revelations could only lead to further superstition and misunderstanding. what, indeed, can a student of occultism, a beginner, gather from the following highly poetical sentences of eliphas levi, as apocalyptic as the writings of any of the alchemists "lucifer, the astral light. is an intermediate force existing in all creation, it serves to create and to destroy, and the fall of adam was an erotic intoxication which has rendered his generation a slave to this fatal light. every sexual passion that overpowers our senses is a whirlwind of that light which seeks to drag us towards the abyss of death, folly. hallucinations, visions, ecstasies are all forms of a

gnashing of teeth of the abortive beings it devours, the phantom of life that escapes them, and seems to mock and insult their agony, all this would be the devil or satan indeed (histoire de la magie, p. 197. there is no wrong statement in all this; nothing save a superabundance of ill-applied metaphors, as in the application of adam- a myth- to the illustration of the astral effects. akasa- the astral light- can be defined in a few words; it is the universal soul, the matrix of the universe, the "mysterium magnum" from which all that exists is born by separation or differentiation. it is the cause of existence; it[[footnote(s* akasa is not the ether of science, as some orientalists translate it[[vol. 2, page] 512 the secret doctrine fills all the infinite space; is space itself, in one s

s* but as the finite in the infinite, as regards manifestation, this light must have its shadowy side- as already remarked. and as the infinite can never be manifested, hence the finite world has to be satisfied with the shadow alone, which its actions draw upon humanity and which men attract and force to activity. hence, while it is the universal cause in its unmanifested unity and infinity, the astral light becomes, with regard to mankind, simply the effects of the causes produced by men in their sinful lives. it is not its bright denizens- whether they are called spirits of light or darkness- that produce good or evil, but mankind itself that determines the unavoidable action and reaction in the great magic agent. it is mankind which has become the "serpent of genesis" and thus causes d

us, is the name of the angelic entity presiding over the light of truth as over the light of the day. in the great valentinian gospel pistis sophia( 361) it is taught that of the three powers emanating from the holy names of the three[[tridunameis, that of sophia (the holy ghost according to these gnostics- the most cultured of all, resides in the planet venus or lucifer. thus to the profane, the astral light may be god and devil at once[[footnote(s* says johannes tritheim, the abbot of spanheim, the greatest astrologer and kabalist of his day "the art of divine magic consists in the ability to perceive the essence of things in the light of nature (astral light, and by using the soulpowers of the spirit to produce material things from the unseen universe, and in such operations the above a

f spanheim, the greatest astrologer and kabalist of his day "the art of divine magic consists in the ability to perceive the essence of things in the light of nature (astral light, and by using the soulpowers of the spirit to produce material things from the unseen universe, and in such operations the above and the below must be brought together and made to act harmoniously. the spirit of nature (astral light) is a unity, creating and forming everything, and acting through the instrumentality of man it may produce wonderful things. such are accomplished, if you learn to know yourself. you will know it by the power of the spirit that is in yourself, and accomplish it by mixing your spirit with the essence that comes out of yourself. if you wish to succeed in such a work you must know how to

eus inversus: that is to say, through every point of infinite space thrill the magnetic and electrical currents of animate nature, the life-giving and death-giving waves, for death on earth becomes life on another plane. lucifer is divine and terrestrial light, the "holy ghost" and "satan" at one and the same time, visible space being truly filled with the differentiated breath invisibly; and the astral light, the manifested effects of the two who are one, guided and attracted by ourselves, is the karma of humanity, both a personal and impersonal entity: personal, because it is the mystic name given by st. martin to the host of divine creators, guides and rulers of this planet; impersonal, as the cause and effect of universal life and death. the fall was the result of man's knowledge, for

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

5 the eye of dangma. 47 alaya, the universal soul. 49[[vol. 1, page] x contents. page. stanza ii- the idea of differentiation. 53 the absolute knows itself not. 55 the germ of life was not yet. 57 the universe was still concealed in the divine thought. 61- stanza iii- the awakening of kosmos. 62 the great vibration. 63 nature's symbols. 65 the power of numbers. 67 the logoi and the dragon. 73 the astral light. 75 primeval radiations from unity. 79 the web of being. 83 conscious electricity: fohat. 85- stanza iv- the septenary hierarchies. 86 the sons of the fire. 86 the vehicle of the universe- the dhyan chohans. 89 the army of the voice. 93 speech and mind. 95 the ogdoad and the heptad. 99 the stellar "sons of light. 103- stanza v- fohat: the child of the septenary hierarchies. 106 the fi

hensible to finite intellects "if thou wouldest believe in the power which acts within the root of a plant, or imagine the root concealed under the soil, thou hast to think of its stalk or trunk and of its leaves and flowers. thou canst not imagine that power independently of these objects. life can be known only by the tree of life (precepts for yoga. the idea of absolute unity[[vol. 1, page] 59 astral light is not the anima mundi. would be broken entirely in our conception, had we not something concrete before our eyes to contain that unity. and the deity being absolute, must be omnipresent, hence not an atom but contains it within itself. the roots, the trunk and its many branches are three distinct objects, yet they are one tree. say the kabalists "the deity is one, because it is infin

ee. say the kabalists "the deity is one, because it is infinite. it is triple, because it is ever manifesting" this manifestation is triple in its aspects, for it requires, as aristotle has it, three principles for every natural body to become objective: privation, form, and matter* privation meant in the mind of the great philosopher that which the occultists call the prototypes impressed in the astral light- the lowest plane and world of anima mundi. the union of these three principles depends upon a fourth- the life which radiates from the summits of the unreachable, to become an universally diffused essence on the manifested planes of existence. and this quaternary (father, mother, son, as a unity, and a quaternary, as a living manifestation) has been the means of leading to the very a

thagorean number, the perfect square, and a 6-faced cube on earth. the macroprosopus (the great face) is now microprosopus (the lesser face; or, as the kabalists have it, the "ancient of days" descending on adam kadmon whom he uses as his vehicle to manifest through, gets transformed into tetragrammaton. it is now in the "lap of maya" the great illusion, and between itself and the reality has the astral light, the great deceiver of man's limited senses, unless knowledge through paramarthasatya comes to the rescue- stanza ii- continued. 5. the seven (sons) were not yet born from the web of light. darkness alone was father-mother, svabhavat, and svabhavat was in darkness (a (a) the secret doctrine, in the stanzas given here, occupies itself chiefly, if not entirely, with our solar system, an

o the lap[[vol. 1, page] 63 the universe, a flitting shadow. of maya" it implies that this expansion, not being an increase in size- for infinite extension admits of no enlargement- was a change of condition. it "expanded like the bud of the lotus; for the lotus plant exists not only as a miniature embryo in its seed (a physical characteristic, but its prototype is present in an ideal form in the astral light from "dawn" to "night" during the manvantaric period, like everything else, as a matter of fact, in this objective universe; from man down to mite, from giant trees down to the tiniest blades of grass. all this, teaches the hidden science, is but the temporary reflection, the shadow of the eternal ideal prototype in divine thought- the word "eternal" note well again, standing here onl

d "his name is echod: say the rabbins. the philologists ought to decide which of the two is derived from the other- linguistically and symbolically: surely, not the sanskrit? the "one" and the dragon are expressions used by the ancients in connection with their respective logoi. jehovah- esoterically (as elohim- is also the serpent or dragon that tempted eve, and the "dragon" is an old glyph for "astral light (primordial principle "which is the wisdom of chaos" archaic philosophy, recognizing neither good nor evil as a fundamental or independent power, but starting from the absolute all (universal perfection eternally, traced both through the course of natural evolution to pure light condensing gradually into form, hence becoming matter or evil. it was left with the early and ignorant chri

hermes, following suit in genesis; the gnostic's serpent with the seven vowels over its head, being the emblem of the seven hierarchies of the septenary or planetary creators. hence, also, the hindu serpent sesha or ananta "the infinite" a name of vishnu, whose first vahan or vehicle on the primordial waters is this serpent* yet they all made a difference between the good and the bad serpent (the astral light of[[footnote(s* like the logoi and the hierarchies of powers, however, the "serpents" have to be distinguished one from the other. sesha or ananta "the couch of vishnu" is an allegorical abstraction, symbolizing infinite time in space, which contains the germ and throws off periodically the efflorescence of this germ, the manifested universe; whereas, the gnostic ophis contained the s

t divine" personified, says: the light is me, i am the nous (the mind or manu, i am thy god, and i am far older than the human principle which escapes from the shadow("darkness" or the concealed deity. i am the germ of thought, the resplendent word, the son of god. all that thus sees and hears in thee is the verbum of the master, it is the thought (mahat) which is god, the father[[footnote(s* the astral light, or the aether, of the ancient pagans (for the name of astral light is quite modern) is spirit-matter. beginning with the pure spiritual plane, it becomes grosser as it descends until it becomes the maya or the tempting and deceitful serpent on our plane* by "god, the father" the seventh principle in man and kosmos are here unmistakeably meant, this principle being inseparable in its

in the egyptian as in the indian theogony there was a concealed deity, the one, and the creative, androgynous god. thus shoo is the god of creation and osiris is, in his original primary form, the "god whose name is unknown (see mariette's abydos ii, p. 63, and vol. iii, pp. 413, 414, no. 1122[[vol. 1, page] 76 the secret doctrine. the identity of "father-mother" with primordial aether or akasa (astral light; and (b) its homogeneity before the evolution of the "son" cosmically fohat, for it is cosmic electricity "fohat hardens and scatters the seven brothers (book iii. dzyan; which means that the primordial electric entity- for the eastern occultists insist that electricity is an entity- electrifies into life, and separates primordial stuff or pregenetic matter into atoms, themselves the

is the strong force of every force, for it conquers every subtile thing and penetrates into every solid. thus was the world formed (hermes. it was not zeno alone, the founder of the stoics, who taught that the[[footnote(s* see next note* od is the pure life-giving light, or magnetic fluid; ob the messenger of death used by the sorcerers, the nefarious evil fluid; aour is the synthesis of the two, astral light proper. can the philologists tell why od- a term used by reichenbach to denominate the vital fluid- is also a tibetan word meaning light, brightness, radiancy? it equally means "sky" in an occult sense. whence the root of the word? but akasa is not quite ether, but far higher than that, as will be shown[[vol. 1, page] 77 deity in space and time. universe evolves, when its primary subs

never to return (be reborn, or to return (to incarnate again. the fire, the flame, the day, the bright (lucky) fortnight, the six months of the northern solstice, departing (dying) in these, those who know the brahman (yogis) go to the brahman. smoke, night, the dark (unlucky) fortnight, the six months of the southern solstice (dying) in these, the devotee goes to the lunar light (or mansion the astral light also) and returns (is reborn. these two paths, bright and dark, are said to be eternal in this world (or great kalpa 'age. by the one a man goes never to come back, by the other he returns" now these names "fire "flame "day" the "bright fortnight" etc, as "smoke "night" and so on, leading only to the end of the lunar path are incomprehensible without a knowledge of esotericism. these

ating male, and "his mother's husband* this gives the key-note to all the later divine sons from immaculate mothers. it is greatly corroborated by the significant fact that anna (the name of the mother of the virgin mary) now represented by the roman catholic church as having given birth to her daughter in an immaculate way("mary conceived without sin, is derived from the chaldean ana, heaven, or astral light, anima mundi; whence anaitia, devi-durga, the wife of siva, is also called annapurna[[footnote(s* we find the same expression in egypt. mout signifies, for one thing "mother" and shows the character assigned to her in the triad of that country "she was no less the mother than the wife of ammon, one of the principle titles of the god being "the husband of his mother" the goddess mout

ife of ammon, one of the principle titles of the god being "the husband of his mother" the goddess mout, or mut, is addressed as "our lady" the "queen of heaven" and of "the earth" thus "sharing these titles with the other mother goddesses, isis, hathor, etc (maspero[[vol. 1, page] 92 the secret doctrine. and kanya, the virgin "uma-kanya" being her esoteric name, and meaning the "virgin of light" astral light in one of its multitudinous aspects (c) the devas, pitris, rishis; the suras and the asuras; the daityas and adityas; the danavas and gandharvas, etc, etc, have all their synonyms in our secret doctrine, as well as in the kabala and the hebrew angelology; but it is useless to give their ancient names, as it would only create confusion. many of these may be also found now, even in the

the lipika, produced by the three (word, voice, and spirit. the rejected son is one, the "son-suns" are countless. the lipi-ka, from the word lipi "writing" means literally the[[vol. 1, page] 104 the secret doctrine "scribes* mystically, these divine beings are connected with karma, the law of retribution, for they are the recorders or annalists who impress on the (to us) invisible tablets of the astral light "the great picture-gallery of eternity- a faithful record of every act, and even thought, of man, of all that was, is, or ever will be, in the phenomenal universe. as said in "isis" this divine and unseen canvas is the book of life. as it is the lipika who project into objectivity from the passive universal mind the ideal plan of the universe, upon which the "builders" reconstruct the

from the heart of the defunct, which becomes an open book before (whether) yama, minos, osiris, or karma- are all so many copies of, and variants from the lipika, and their astral records. nevertheless, the lipi-ka are not deities connected with death, but with life eternal. connected as the lipika are with the destiny of every man and the birth of every child, whose life is already traced in the astral light not fatalistically, but only because the future, like the past, is ever alive in the present- they may also be said to exercise an influence on the science of horoscopy. we must admit the truth of the latter whether we will or not. for, as observed by one of the modern adepts of astrology "now that photography has revealed to us the chemical influence of the sidereal system, by fixing

d consequently the fifth element will manifest fully only in the fifth round. the worlds, including our own, were of course, as germs, primarily evolved from the one element in its second stage("father-mother" the differentiated world's soul, not what is termed the "over-soul" by emerson, whether we call it, with modern science, cosmic dust and fire mist, or with occultism- akasa, jivatma, divine astral light, or the "soul of the world" but this first stage of evolution was in due course of time followed by the next. no world, as no heavenly body, could be constructed on the objective plane, had not the elements been sufficiently differentiated already from their primeval ilus, resting in laya. the latter term is a synonym of nirvana. it is, in fact, the nirvanic dissociation of all substa

ent work. but this does not alter the fact that it contains some mistaken notions, and that it has led many theosophists and lay-readers to form an erroneous conception of the secret eastern doctrines. moreover it seems, perhaps, a little too materialistic "man" which came later, was an attempt to present the archaic doctrine from a more ideal standpoint, to translate some visions in and from the astral light, to render some teachings partly gathered from a master's thoughts, but unfortunately misunderstood. this work also speaks of the evolution of the early races of men on earth, and contains some excellent pages of a philosophical character. but so far it is only an interesting little mystical romance. it has failed in its mission, because the conditions required for a correct translati

ls in fetahil, a still purer spirit, to his aid, who fails still worse. this is a repetition of the failure of the "fathers" the lords of light who fail one after the other (book ii, sloka 17) we will now quote from our earlier volumes "then steps on the stage of creation the spirit (of the earth so-called, or the soul, psyche, which st. james calls 'devilish) the lower portion the anima mundi or astral light (see the close of this sloka. with the nazarenes and the gnostics this spirit was[[footnote(s* explaining kabalistic views, the author of the "new aspects of life" says of the fallen angels that "according to the symbolical teaching, spirit, from being simply a functionary agent of god, became volitional in its developed and developing action; and, substituting its own will for the di

gmatic and dualistic religions of the future, a germ which has grown into such a luxuriant tree in ecclesiastical christianity. it is already the outline of the two "supremes- god and satan. but in the stanzas no such idea exists. most of the western christian kabalists- pre-eminently eliphas levi- in their desire to reconcile the occult sciences with church dogmas, did their best to make of the "astral light" only and preeminently the pleroma of early church fathers, the abode of the hosts of the fallen angels, of the "archons" and "powers" but the astral light, while only the lower aspect of the absolute, is yet dual. it is the anima mundi, and ought never to be viewed otherwise, except for kabalistic purposes. the difference which exists between its "light" and its "living fire" ought t

chons" and "powers" but the astral light, while only the lower aspect of the absolute, is yet dual. it is the anima mundi, and ought never to be viewed otherwise, except for kabalistic purposes. the difference which exists between its "light" and its "living fire" ought to be ever present in the mind of the seer and the "psychic" the higher aspect, without which only creatures of matter from that astral light can be produced, is this living fire, and it is the seventh principle. it is said in "isis unveiled" in a complete description of it "the astral light or anima mundi is dual and bisexual. the (ideal) male part of it is purely divine and spiritual, it is the wisdom, it is spirit or purusha; while the female portion (the spiritus of the nazarenes) is tainted, in one sense, with matter

how the views held in those days- outside the circle of mosaic jews- about jehovah. he was identified by all the gnostics with the evil, rather than with the good principle. for them, he was ilda-baoth "the son of darkness" whose mother, sophia achamoth, was the daughter of sophia, the divine wisdom (the female holy ghost of the early christians- akasa* while sophia achamoth personified the lower astral light or ether. ilda-baoth* or jehovah, is simply one of the elohim, the seven[[footnote(s* they are found, however, in the chaldean book of numbers* the astral light stands in the same relation to akasa and anima mundi, as satan stands to the deity. they are one and the same thing seen from two aspects: the spiritual and the psychic- the super-ethereal or connecting link between matter and

BUCKLAND RAYMOND COMPLETE BOOK OF WITCHCRAFT

cate them to you through the symbols and images of the ancient and mysterious tarot cards. your deep mind has the power to shape those astral shadows images that are causal to material events when you learn to communicate your own desires and goals using the tarot's powerful symbol language and the meditative and/or ritual techniques taught in this book to energize and imprint new patterns in the astral light. this book teaches you both how to read the tarot cards: seeing the likely outcome of the present trends and the hidden forces now at work shaping tomorrow's circumstances, and then as never before presented to the public how you can expand this same system to bring these causal forces under your conscious control. the magick of the tarot mobilizes the powerful inner resources of psyc

CASE PAUL F THE BOOK OF TOKENS

; and in the ancient form of teth the circle surrounding the cross is a symbol of the "power of the letters, because the total number of hebrew letters is 22, and 22 is the characteristic number of any circle. arithmetic is the basis of all practical occultism. a knowledge of the esoteric properties and uses of number is indispensable to every seeker for liberation "the coiled fiery power" is the astral light, symbolized by a coiled serpent. it is also the kundalini of the yogis, and much concerning it will be found in the writings of madame blavatsky, who calls it fohat, and says outright that the letter teth is a symbol for fohat. see also arthur avalon's serpent power and shakti and shakta. the "lamps" are the "interior stars" or "chakras. the "oil" is the nerve-force (a modification of

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

abylonian brotherhood. the basic moral code wastaught to all people, but the secret knowledge was, as with all these networks, preservedfor initiates under the strictest secrecy. eliphas levi, the famous esotericist, said of theirhealing methods:74the druids were priests and physicians, curing by magnetism. their universal remedieswere mistletoe and serpents eggs, because these substances attract astral light in aspecial manner. the solemnity with which mistletoe was cut down drew upon this plant thepopular confidence and rendered it powerfully magnetic.46the druids, like the other mystery religions, were carriers of advanced knowledgewhich has been kept from the people, and some of them used it for less than positivereasons. i am not condemning the druids as a whole and i certainly do not

DICTIONARY GLOSSARY OF OCCULT TERMINOLOGY

on the loas (q.v) or gods. astral: greek "from the stars" pertaining to that level of existence which is finer and more penetrating than matter, but denser than mind. in the psyche, it comprises the emotional/instinctual levels which unite mind and body. astral plane: a non-physical level of existence which is the basis for the physical plane, and the place where many non-physical entities exist. astral light: 1) a term used by dion fortune (q.v) as a synonym for the term astral plane (q.v. 2) the "substance" or "material" of the astral plane itself. astral projection: the practice of and ability to separate your astral body and consciousness from your physical body. astral temple: the place of ritual working that is created in the astral realm or astral plane (q.v, or within the imaginati

phillips. an order whose teachings are strongly in the western esoteric tradition. the symbol of this order is a plain, unadorned eight rayed star in the form of an octagram, on it's side (to look like a cross, and a red equilateral cross in the center of a golden octagon. azoth: a word composed of the first and last letters of the hebrew and greek alphabets. it is also called the akasha (q.v) or astral light. it appears as brightness and is changeable according to the person's will- b- banish: to send away. banishing rituals clear your working area of unwanted entities and influences. one classification of abjuration (q.v. binah: hebrew for "understanding. the third (3rd) sephirah (q.v) on the tree of life (q.v. it is the top of the left or feminine pillar. binding: to secure a spirit or

DION FORTUNE MYSTICAL QABALA

uity of existence. all mind is group-mind in netzach, but in hod the human mind has its beginnings. 2. let us now consider netzach itself, both in its microcosmic and macrocosmic aspects, bearing constantly in mind that we are now in the sphere of illusion, and that what is about to be described in terms of form are appearances as represented by the intellect to itself and projected back into the astral light as thought-forms. this is a very important point, and should be thoroughly understood in order to avoid falling into superstition. everything that is perceived by the "eyes of the intellect and the contemplations of faith" as the yetziratic text so graphically puts it, has its metaphysical basis in chokmah, the supernal sephirah at the head of the pillar of mercy. but with netzach a g

em their hebrew name, are the formative influences whereby the creative force expresses itself in nature. their true character is to be discerned in chesed, where they are described by the sepher yetzirah as the holy powers" in netzach, however, which represents the upper stratum of the reflecting ether, they undergo a change, the image-making mind of man has begun to work upon them, moulding the astral light into forms that shall represent them to his consciousness. 8. it is very important that we should realise that these lower sephiroth of the plane of illusion are densely populated by thought-forms; that everything which the human imagination has been able to conceive, however dimly, has a form built [page 224] about it out of the astral light, and that the more the human imagination h

nto his soul, thus stimulating the corresponding factor in his own nature and thereby developing it. the operations of this worship, especially when it became highly organised and intellectualised, as in greece and egypt, built up exceedingly definite and potent images, and it is these that are generally understood as the gods. generations of worship and adoration kuild a very strong image in the astral light, and when sacrifice is added to worship, the image is brought a step farther down the planes into manifestation and acquires a form in the der:se ethers of yesod, and is a very potent magical object, capable of independent action when ensouled by the concrete ideas generated in hod. 10. we see, then, that every celestial being conceived by the mind of man has as its basis a natural fo

ow and return between each "body" or level of consciousness and its corresponding aspect in the macrocosm. just as there is an intake and output on the level of malkuth whereby food and water are received into the body as nutriment and rejected as excreta, which is the food of the vegetable kingdom under the polite name of manure-so is there an intake and output between the etheric double and the astral light, and [page 230] between the astral body and the mind side of nature, and 50 on up the planes, with the subtler factors represented by the six higher sephiroth. the essence of the magical qabalah, which is the practical application of the tree of life, is to develop these magnetic circuits of the different levels) and so strengthen and reinforce the soul. just as the physical body is n

, mother, and child, that they achieve dynamic activity, as distinguished from the latent force which is for ever locked up in them, awaiting to be called forth. 17. the functioning triangle of the lower triad consists of hod, netzach, and yesod. hod and netzach, as we have noted before, are respectively form and force on the astral plane. ye sod is the basis of etheric substanice, akasha, or the astral light, as it is variously called. hod is especially the sphere of magic, because it is the sphere of the formulation of forms, and is therefore the sphere in which the magician actually works, for it is his mind that formulates the forms, and his will that makes the link with the natural forces of the sphere of netzach that ensoul them. be it noted, however, that without the contacts of net

ion of which constitutes the spiritual experience of this sephirah. in fact, yesod might aptly be described as the sphere of the machinery of the universe. if we liken the kingdom of earth to a great ship, then yesod would be the engine-room. 4. yesod is the sphere of that peculiar substance, partaking of the nature of both mind and matter, which is called the ther of the wise, the akasha, or the astral light, according to the terminology that is being used. it is not the same as the ether of the physicists, mystical qabala page 173 which is the fire element of the sphere of malkuth; but is to that ether what that ether is to dense matter; it is, in fact, the basis of the phenomena which the physicist attributes to his empirical ether. the ether of the wise might, in fact, be called the ro

s on forms, and holds them and relinguishes them with equal readiness, showing that it is not the form which confines the life, but the life that determines the form. we likewise know that ectoplasm can be emanated and absorbed, though we do not know the conditions that [page 256] govern this phenomenon. ectoplasm is, in fact, a kind of ethereal protoplasm; and we might conceive of tbe? yltbcb or astral light as bearing the same relationship to ectoplasin as ectoplasm bears to protoplasm. 9. but although we no more know the ultimate nature of the astral 'ether than we understand the ultimate nature of electricity, nevertheless we know by observation that it possesses certain properties. we do not merely deduce these properties; we know they exist by experience, because they enable us to ma

ELIPHAS LEVI THE CONJURATION OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS

i. the four elementary forms separate and specify by a kind of rough outline, the created spirits whom the universal movement disengages from the central fire. everywhere spirit works and fecundates matter by life; all matter is animated; thought and soul are everywhere. in seizing upon the thought that produces the diverse forms, we become the master of forms and make them serve for our use. the astral light is completely filled with souls that it disengages in the incessant generation of being; souls have imperfect wills which can be dominated and used by more powerful wills. they then form great invisible chains, and can occasion or determine grand elementary commotions. phenomena ascertained in the processes of magic and all those recently verified by m. eudes de merville have no other

to immortality through sacrifice, in order that one day we may be found worthy to offer thee water, blood, and tears, for the remission of sins. amen. we exorcise fire by casting in it salt, incense, white resin, camphor, and sulphur, and by pronouncing three times the three names of the genii of fire: michael, king of the sun and of lightning; samael, king of volcanoes; and anael, prince of the astral light. next by reciting the prayer of the salamanders. immortal, eternal, ineffable and uncreated father of all things i who are borne upon the incessantly rolling chariot of worlds which are always turning; ruler of the ethereal immensity where the throne of thy power is elevated; from whose height thy dread-inspiring eyes discover all things, and thy exquisite andsacred ears hear all; lis

lation to the forces which they represent, and to the effects proposed to be obtained. divination by the four elementary forms named aeromancy, hydromancy, pyromancy, and geomancy, is made in diverse ways, which all depend upon the will and transparency or imagination of the operator. in truth the four elements are only instruments to aid second-sight. second-sight is the faculty of seeing in the astral light. this second-sight is as natural as the first sight, or the sensible and ordinary sight, but it can only act through the abstraction of the senses. somnambulists and ecstatics enjoy second-sight naturally; but this sight is more lucid as the abstraction becomes more complete. the abstraction is produced by astral intoxication; that is, by a superabundance of light, which completely sa

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

erive from traditional hindu mysticism. sources: besant annie. the ancient wisdom. 1897. reprint, wheaton, ill: theosophical press, 1928. leadbeater, charles w. the astral plane. london: theosophical publishing house, 1915. mead, george r. s. the doctrine of the subtle body in western tradition. london: john m. watkins, 1919. reprint, wheaton, ill: theosophical publishing house, 1967. nizida. the astral light. london: theosophical publishing house, 1889. reprint, talent, ore: eastern school press, 1983. astro communications services astro communications services, the original company that attempted to computerize astrology, was founded as astro computing services in 1973 in white plains, new york, by neil franklin michelsen, a systems engineer with ibm. he began work on astrology in 1971 w

sly all over the earth at any special time, if you wish. as a matter of strict truth, however, i must inform you that the real records of the past exist on a much higher plane than the astral, and that which you have witnessed is but a reflection (practically perfect, however) of the original records. it requires a high degree of occult development in order to perceive even this reflection in the astral light. an ordinary clairvoyant, however, is often able to catch occasional glimpses of these astral pictures, and may thus describe fairly well happenings of the past. the concept of akashic records derives from hinduism as transmitted through the theosophical society and the teachings of madame helena petrovna blavatsky, who claimed that such records were accessible to a gifted percipient

ceived by psychics and identified by some parapsychologists, but largely unrecognized by mainstream science, emanations play a significant part in theories about psychic phenomena. throughout history, subtle emanations have been postulated under a variety of names, such as the prana of ancient india, the mana of polynesian primitives, the telesma of hermes trismegistus, the pneuma of gallien, the astral light of the kabbalists, and the spiritus of robert fludd. since the late eighteenth century and franz anton mesmer s proposals concerning magnetic fluid, a variety of terms for emanations have been proposed, such as odic force, animal magnetism, ether, radiations, and vibrations. at various times emanations were said to proceed from and surround everything in nature. when living things wer

and eighteenth centuries mainly depended on ideas of radiation emanating from all things, but especially from the stars, magnets, and human beings. of a force that would act on all things and was controlled by an indwelling spirit. the writings of paracelsus abound with instances of the theory. he asserted that every substance in itself contained something of the nature of the lodestone, that an astral light .one of the finer media of nature, finer than the luminiferous ether.existed throughout planetary space and especially around the human brain and spinal cord. he wrote that humans are simply organized magnets, each with poles that attract and repel, that our thoughts are magnetic emanations projected from our minds. according to paracelsus, the universe emanated from a great first bei

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

ecognize that we find (approximately) mana in the brahman and akasha of the hindus, the living fire of zoroaster, the generative fire of heraclitus, the ruach of the jews, the telesma of hermest trismegistus, the ignis subtilissimus of hippocrates, the pneuma of gallien, the soul of the world of plato and giordano bruno, the mens agitat molem which vergil drew from the pythagorean philosophy, the astral light of the kabbalists, the azoth of the alchemists, the magnale of paracelsus, the alcahest of van helmont, the pantheistic substance of apinoza, the subtle matter of descartes, the animal magnetism of mesmer, the will of schopenhauer, the od of reichenbach and du prel, the unconscious of hartmann, the entelechy of driesch, the plastic mediator of eliphas levi, the psychode and ectenic fo

ussed in modern history by the american scientist joseph rhodes buchanan in 1842. the term derives from the greek psyche (soul) and metron (measure) and signifies soul-measuring, or measurement by the human soul. buchanan s theory was based on the belief that everything that has ever existed.every object, scene, or event that has occurred since the beginning of the world.has left on the ether, or astral light, a trace of its being. this trace is indelible while the world endures and is impressed not only on the ether but on more palpable objects, such as trees and stones. sounds and perfumes also leave impressions on their surroundings, said buchanan. just as a photograph may be taken on film or plate and remain invisible until it has been developed, so may those psychometric photographs r

FRATER TENEBROUS CULTS OF CTHULHU

ame blavatsky died on may 8, 1891, of bright s disease a condition from which lovecraft also suffered, and which contributed to his early death. one explanation of the many occult correspondences found in lovecraft s fiction has been supplied by kenneth grant in his typhonian trilogies. grant suggests that the lovecraftian grimoire, the necronomicon, actually exists within the akasha, or field of astral light. this is an etheric reservoir said to surround the earth, and which retains within its structure the imprint of every event which has occurred since the formation of the planet. it can be accessed at will by those individuals who possess the necessary psychic ability, and may be manipulated to provide positive images. it was from the akashic records that blavatsky transmitted the book

FULLER J F C SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

rmation of a simulacrum possible. according to the zohar, metatron gsets all his legions in motion by the power of a single letter [shin] h.21 this was the spoken word tetragrammaton, which created light, when the yetziratic emanation moved upon the face of the waters (the luminous mirror) and proclaimed gyehe aur h (value 222, glet there be light h (illumination. in proclaiming it, the shekinah, astral light, ether, or by whatever name the reader chooses to call it, emerged from out of the yetziratic deity, leaving the four tetragrammatic letters of his name reflected upon the deep. these four letters represent what may be called the materiality of this deity, the elements of air, fire, water, and earth. in themselves they are not spiritual but are reflected upon spirit, the shin by going

elligence. because it rules the movement of the sun and the moon according to their constitution, and causes each to gravitate in its respective orb h. 24 in other words, it is the equilibrating force in the world of action, kether 'hokmah, and binah, christ and the two thieves on their crosses, the caduceus of hermes, the solar disc and dual serpents of egypt, and, according to eliphas levi, the astral light between the horns of the baphomet of mendes- the panlike satan of the templars. when erect it is the rod of aaron and the brazen serpent of moses (see plate vii on page 44) its three teeth, or tongues, represent three vaudin and consequently may be translated into the number 666, the solar number and the number of the beast in the apocalypse. according to the siphrah d'tzniuthah, it i

evil, and evil a means of balancing out good. neither is desirable in itself except in the material world, which cannot exist without them; equally, the spiritual world cannot be entered as long as they exist; consequently their adverseness is purely relative to the spiritual world. further on in this book we will show that the power of using either is drawn from the same source- shin, shekinah, astral light, ether, electricity, whatever name it may be called by- and to understand the use of this force, yet never to be obsessed by it, is to trample on the head of the serpent and so re-establish the shin in the body of tetragrammaton and formulate the messiah, the incarnate word which when disincarnated caused the assiatic world to be. in brief, this is the central doctrine of the qabalist

is the messiah, but once it has faded away he is again man, yet charged with a terrific power which according to his will is a power for good or for evil. the existence and possible employment of this force constitute the great secret of practical magic; it is the wand of thaumaturgy and the key of black magic. it is the edenic serpent who transmitted to eve the seductions of a fallen angel. the astral light warms, illuminates, magnetizes, attracts, repels, vivifies, destroys, coagulates, separates, breaks and conjoins everything under the impetus of powerful wills. god created it on the first day, when he said: glet there be light. h this force of itself is blind but is directed by egregores, that is, by chiefs of souls, or, in other words, by energetic and active spirits. 18 so writes e

GILBERT AE WAITE A MAGICIAN OF MANY PARTS

ritueldelahautemagie(1856),histoiredelamagie(1860),andlaclefdesgrandsmysteres(1861),were inaccurate, idiosyncratic,and-utterlyenchanting. theyalsoexercisedan enormous influence on occultists andideasthat were born. of levi's imagination became enshrined as occult dogmas: he reiterated in new forms the doctrine.of 'correspondences('asabove,sobelow; postulated an all-pervading universal medium, the astral light; arguedfor the supremacy in magicof the will; and proclaimed theparallelbetween the letters of the hebrew alphabet and the tarot trumps. all of these ideas were regurgitated, with embellishments, by his successors-not the least of whom was madameblavatsky.waite came upon levi in 1881, read him sketchily in the british museum, and began his 'serious study' at deal, where he acquired hi

GILBERT THE GOLDEN DAWN TWILIGHT OF THE MAGICIANS

med kabbalist whose work was both utilized and publicized inisisunveiledand which was known to anna kingsford in the french texts. english rosicrucians already knewoflevi's occult powers from a remarkable account of a visit to him by oneoftheir number, kenneth mackenzie, in1861.in levi's writings they would findtarotsymbolism, the makingoftalismans, the theoryofthe kabbalah and the concept of the astral light; allofwhich was to be part and parcelofthe systemofthe golden dawn. and among the speakers who lectured to the hermetic society were twl-'w. wynn westcott and s.l.macgregormathers255who followed its western path while retaining those featuresofthe parent theosophical society that they foundofvalue. as freemasons they recognized the valueofthe form of obligation that bound members to s

ise-themore terrible thefall-ifyou should fall.sofar-saappendixeritual u:thesecret wisdomofthe lesser world or microcosm which is manparts:oftravelling in the spirit visionthesymbol, place, direction or plane being known, whereon it is desired to act, a thought-ray as beforeissent unto the corres255 ponding part of the sphere of sensation; and thence, by drawing a basis of action from the refined astral light of the sphere of sensation of the nephesh (the soul as vital essence, the thought-ray is sent like anarrowfrom abowrightthroughthe circumference of the sphere of sensation, direct unto the place desired. arrived here a sphere of astral light is formed by the agency of the lower will illuminated by the higher will, and acting through the spiritual consciousness by reflection along the

nsation of the nephesh (the soul as vital essence, the thought-ray is sent like anarrowfrom abowrightthroughthe circumference of the sphere of sensation, direct unto the place desired. arrived here a sphere of astral light is formed by the agency of the lower will illuminated by the higher will, and acting through the spiritual consciousness by reflection along the thought-ray; and this sphere of astral light is partly drawn from the nephesh and partly from the surrounding atmosphere. this sphere being formed, asimulacrumof the person of the skryer isrefleaedinto it along the thought-ray, and the united consciousness is then projected therein. this sphere is therefore a duplicate, by reflection, of the sphere of sensation. as it is said 'believe thyself to be in a place, and thou art there

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

ntal force, and baneful misdirected energy. our existence passes in an atmosphere of material air; matter in the third state. but beyond this, there are other states, even more rare; even science begins to hint at one step beyond the invisible air- the hypothetical ether of the light waves. a true medium indeed, but there is an even rarer state in which we are equally bathed, the akasic so-called astral light, of which our senses are all too gross to form any conception; yet this unseen and almost inconceivable film is ever around us, and takes an impression of every event and form that exists and that ever has existed.itis the recording angel of the exoteric scriptures, to it refers the adept who has the spiritual vision, and there he finds recorded every event of the past; there he sees

there would be an end to all work, and all pleasure in our lives, and each would alone be concerned at every hour in staving off so great a curse, so terrible a doom.[a lecture to the adelphi lodge of the theosophical society. reprinted fromtheosophical siftings,vol. 5, no. 16 (1893, pp.3-15.]16.the vestiges of tetragrammatonthe 'tetragrammaton' is a symbol of the soul of the world, that is, the astral light, the great magical agent, the action of god in the universe. the creator and governor, the motive power, the guiding influence, the mainspring of the whole machine is typified by the cross and the square, the tetrad or quaternary. thisonegod, or power, is the resume of the members of the triad.thetriadis the synthesis of the two contending forces, the one that unites them into equilib

se obvious types of know, dare, bear and aspire are beautifully combined in the ideal sphynx of egypt: a perfect symbol of what man must do to be comparable with the omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence of god, typi255 fied by the same emblems. now the four elements of the sphynx are equally applicable to the expression of god in the natural forces of the earth the four-parted action of the astral light working in heat, light, magnetism and electricity: the man is light, the bull heat, the lion's grip is the attraction of the magnet, and the eagle's wings are types of the far-reaching flashes of the electric fluid. ezekiel's additional imagery of the wheel has supplied the enigma of the wheel of past ellus, intimately connected with the156themagical masontetrad of god; hisrota, the l

GILBERT THE SORCERER AND HIS APPRENTICE

ent.[an instructional paper for students of the golden dawn isis255 urania temple. transcribed by w.e.h. humphreys, 2 july 1900.]4.theazoth lecturelazothis a word formed: from the initials and thefirial letters of the latin, greek and hebrew alphabets, a; z;253andc>(olong)andmandm:thusazrom.itis used with various meanings by. different writers;butit generally..267 signifies beginning and end; the astral light wherein are the elements and the philosophic mercury extracted from sol; or it may mean essence. 2. the cross with equal arms +represents the equation of theelementsandhence is derived its meaning of corrosion and corruption or resolutionofanything into its component parts, 3.theterms raven or crow, lion and eagle, have various alchemical significations. generally: raven or crow=inhib

GNOSTIC HANDBOOK

and manifest. on a human level, it is the dimension of high level intuition and cosmic awareness. the mental plane this is also known as the mental plane. here the flood of energy takes the form of reason and thought, blueprints are formulated and laid. the astral plane the desire plane is also known as the emotional or astral plane. in some traditions it is also seen as the reflective sphere or astral light. the division between the mental and desire plane is not as clear as it seems and intermingling occurs between them both. the physical plane the world on which we live. the earth and the underworld on a critical examine of our models one will notice an anomaly, in the organic models (yggdrasil etc, the underworld is beneath the earth, indeed in medieval mysticism hell (the christian u

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

hysical planes that the dialectic has gained the most influence. the plane of thought this is also known as the mental plane. here the flood of energy takes the form of reason and thought, the ground plane are formulated and laid. gnostic theurgy page 29 the desire plane the desire plane is also known as the emotional or astral plane. in some traditions it is also seen as the reflective sphere or astral light. the division between the thought and desire plane is not as clear as it seems and intermingling occurs between them both, the lower reaches of both planes are nearly totally dialectally controlled. the planes of thought and desire are equivalent to the kabbalistic world of yetzirah. the physical plane is the kabbalistic world of assiah, the fallen world of matter. now i realise these

he gnostic to explore the higher worlds where lower vibrations, such as those of the untransfigured astral or etheric bodies, cannot enter. this is an important consideration for when the untransfigured man tries to explore the higher worlds he can only go as far as his untransformed astral body is capable of taking him. accordingly, he ends in the lower astral kingdoms, where he will confuse the astral light of the archons with the real light of the higher worlds. the process of forming the antakarana is through the use of the imagination and is intricately connected to the seven chakras or as the gnostics understood them, the seven churches. to appreciate this we need to understand that the brain/mind complex and the electro-magnetic fields are not isolated in their respective systems. i

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS U1

d death. for this will be the withdrawing of the vital forces of the name, which are in the citadel of trapt, to locate them in dwsy, which is a more easily attacked position. for the automatic consciousness is the translator of the ruach unto the nephesch. from twklm is formed the whole physical body under the command and presidency of the nephesch. the nephesch is the subtle body or the refined astral light upon which, as on an invisible pattern, the physical body is extended. the physical body is permeated throughout by the rays of the ruach, of which is the material completion. the nephesch shineth through the material body and formeth the magical mirror or sphere of sensation. this magical mirror or sphere of sensation is an imitation or copy of the sphere of the universe. the space b

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS U4

s, bringing about our highest potential and true angelic and divine naturee u4 skrying in the spirit vision g.h. frater d.d.c.f. r. r. e t a. c. z e l a t o r a d e p t u s m i n o r 2 the symbol, place, direction or plane being known whereon it is desired to act, a thought ray is sent unto the corresponding part of the sphere of sensation, and thence by drawing a basis of action from the refined astral light of the sphere of sensation of the nephesch, the thought ray is sent like an arrow from a bow right through the circumference of the sphere of sensation directly into the place desired. arriving here a sphere of astral light is formed by the agency of the lower will, illuminated by the higher will, and acts through spiritual consciousness. by reflection along the thought ray, the spher

l light of the sphere of sensation of the nephesch, the thought ray is sent like an arrow from a bow right through the circumference of the sphere of sensation directly into the place desired. arriving here a sphere of astral light is formed by the agency of the lower will, illuminated by the higher will, and acts through spiritual consciousness. by reflection along the thought ray, the sphere of astral light is partly drawn from the nephesch and partly from the surrounding atmosphere. this sphere being formed, a simulacrum of the person of the skryer, is reflected into it along the thought ray, and the united consciousness is then projected therein. this sphere is therefore a duplicate reflection of the sphere of sensation. as it is said "believe thyself to be in a place, and thou art the

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS VENUSZAM16

great king of the south, spirits of fire, adore your creator" step 6 still facing south, vibrate very powerfully the sixth enochian key, invoking the line bitom from the tablet of union. formulate an astral banner of the east surrounding one's self "in the name of elohim and in the name of yhvh tzboath, i command ye, o ye dwellers in the realm of fire, that ye fashion for me a magical base in the astral light wherein i may invoke the divine forces to charge this talisman of nogah" step 7 go to the appropiate dirtection to begin the supreme invoking ritual of the venus hexagram. perform the keyword in the east. step 8 precede with the qabalistic cross, closing with the keyword. return to the altar so that the latter is between the operator and the previously ascertained position of venus. s

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS Z1

n the grade of theoricus "the tree of life and the three mother letters are the keys wherewith to unlock the caduceus of hermes. the upper point of the wand rests on rtk and the wings stretch out to hmkj and hnyb, thus, comprehending the three supernal sephiroth. the lower seven are embraced by the serpents whose heads fall on dsj and hrwbg. they are the twin serpents of egypt and the currents of astral light. furthermore, the wings and the top of the wand form the letter c, the symbol of o; the heads and upper halves of the serpents form a, the symbol of m; while their tails enclose m, the symbol of n. the fire of life above, the waters of creation below, and the m symbol vibrating between them" 12 in addition to this, the caduceus of kerux represents the balanced forces of eternal light

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS Z2

ial basis, if n, is to be poured away. if l, ground to powder and scattered abroad. if a hard substance as a metal, it must be decharged, banished and thrown aside. if a flame of o, it shall be extinguished. if a vial containing air, it shall be opened, and after that, well rinsed out with pure n. c invisibility o a. the shroud of concealment. b. the magician. c. the guards of concealment. d. the astral light to be molded into the shroud. e. the equation of the symbols in the sphere of sensation. f. the invocation of the higher; the placing of a barrier without the astral form; the clothing of the same with obscurity through the roper invocation. g. formulating clearly the idea of becoming invisible. the formulating of the exact distance at which the shroud should surround the physical bod

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS Z3

e left foot as it is placed beside the right. bring the left hand to the mouth and touch the center of the lower lip with the left forefinger. close the other fingers and thumb, and drop the right hand to the side. imagine that a watery vapor encircles and encloses you. this is the reflux of the current. this sign is also used as a protection against attack. the sign represents a concentration of astral light about the person. having given the sign as above, it is a protection against all attack and danger of obsession. to make it yet stronger, the form of the god should be taken. if spiritual force is required, formulate it as if standing on a lotus or rising from it. for force in contemplation and meditation, formulate as if seated upon a lotus, but for more material force, as if standin

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ZAM10

the names and letters of the holy tablet of union, by the mighty names of god: hyha, alga \yhla hwhy, and by the great lord of silence, hoorpokratist, by your deep purple darkness, and by the white and brilliant light of the crown above my head, do i conjure ye. collect yourselves about me, and clothe this my astral form with an egg of blue, the shroud of darkness. gather yourselves, ye flakes of astral light, and shroud my form in your substantial night. clothe me and hide me, but at my control. darken man's eyes that he see me not. gather at my word divine, for ye are the watchers, and my soul is the shrine" step 13 perform the analysis of the keyword and the qabalistic cross. formulate the black egg around you, and imagine the results of success. say" let the shroud of concealment encir

ure and invoke this shroud of concealment. by your deep purple darkness, and by the white brilliance of the genius about and within me, i invoke ye and conjure ye. i exorcise ye potently. i command and constrain ye. i compel ye to absolute, instant, and complete obedience, and that without deception or delay. for the light of my genius is upon me, and i have made hwhy my hope gather, ye flakes of astral light, to shroud my form in your substantial night. clothe me and hide me in an egg of blue. darken man's eyes, and blind him in his soul, so that he see me not. gather, o gather at my word divine, for ye are the watchers, my soul the shrine" step 16 turn around three times. resume former position. say" in the name of the lord of the universe, and by the aspiration of thine own higher soul

mes exarp, betom, hcoma, nanta, i invoke thee. in and by the names exarp, betom, hcoma, nanta, i constrain thee. by the deep purple darkness of the eternal spirit of life, and by the white brilliance of the genius within me, i invoke ye and conjure ye to absolute and instant obedience, without deception or delay. for the crown of my father is upon me, and in hwhy is my trust. gather, ye flakes of astral light, and shroud my form in your substantial night. clothe me, and hide me in an egg of blue, so that seeing me, men may see me not, nor understand, but that they may see the thing that they see not, and comprehend not the thing that they behold. for ye are the watchers, my soul the shrine. egg of divine darkness, shroud of concealment, long hast thou dwelt concealed. quit the light, that

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ZAM16

ra-agiosel, great king of the west, spirits of n, adore your creator" step 6 still facing west, vibrate very powerfully the fourth enochian key, invoking the line hcoma from the tablet of union. formulate an astral banner of the east surrounding one's self "in the name of twabx \yhla and in the name of la, i command ye, o ye dwellers in the realm of n, that ye fashion for me a magical base in the astral light wherein i may invoke the divine forces to charge this talisman of qdx" step 7 go to the east to begin the supreme invoking ritual of the jupiter hexagram. step 8 precede with the qabalistic cross, closing with the keyword. return to the altar so that the latter is between the operator and the previously ascertained position of k. say "o thou divine one, who dwellest in the majesty and

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ZAM22

urself) with lotus wand held by the kerubic band of e,begin tracing the whorl. say: in the name of edlprnaa, great king of the south, spirits of o, adore your creator! make the 4=7 grade sign. step 6 move back to the east between the pillars, facing west. say: in the name of twabx hwhy and in the name of \yhla, i compel and command ye, ye spirits of o, that ye fashion for me a magical base in the astral light wherein i may invoke the divine forces to charge and empower this magical talisman of cmc. 5 a invocation step 1 facing east, perform the qabalistic cross and the supreme invoking ritual of a. close with the analysis of the keyword. step 2 return to the altar so that the altar is between the operator and the previously ascertained position of cmc. recite the following: o thou divine o

command. give unto me the substance of your realm that it may be mine forever. bind it unto this creature of talismans which i have created (make invoking circle) in the name of raagiosel, great king of the west, spirits of n, ye i command. concentrate upon this creature of talismans the substance of your realm so that it may have a body firm and substantial, manifesting unto me as a solid in the astral light that through it the powers of cmc may manifest unto me. creature of talismans, i have bound unto thee the n.,so pass thou on. make the 3=8 grade sign. step 7 16 take up the talisman, raise it aloft again attracting the light, and circumambulate. say: o lord of the universe, thou art in all things, and thy name is in all things. before thee the shadows of the night roll back and the da

GRERALD SCHUELER AN ADVANCED GUIDE TO ENOCHIAN MAGICK

(oh-veh-keh-hoh eh-tzar-peh) i charge you, governors of paz (pah-zod) to confound the air about my body for as long as i have need of it. ovkho exarp (oh-veh-keh-hoh eh-tzar-peh) in the name of exarp (eh-tzar-peh) in the name of hkoma (heh-koh-mah) in the name of nanta (nah-en-tah) in the name of bitom (bee-toh-meh) i charge you and i invoke the shroud of concealment. gather together, o flakes of astral light, 343 to shroud my form in your substantial night. step 7. the practice. let your body of light enter into you physical body. feel the shroud of darkness surrounding you. face the north and say, i have shrouded myself in mystery and concealment. may i enter the path of darkness. i am the only being in an abyss of darkness. face the west and say, invisible, i now pass by the gate of the

HELENA BLAVATSKY THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY

a of the northern buddhists; the divine essence which pervades, permeates, animates, and informs all things, from the smallest atom of matter to man and god. it is in a sense "the seven-skinned mother" of the stanzas in the secret doctrine; the essence of seven planes of sentience, consciousness, and differentiation, both moral and physical. in its highest aspect it is nirvana; in its lowest, the astral light. it was feminine with the gnostics, the early christians, and the nazarenes; bisexual with other sects, who considered it only in its four lower planes, of igneous and ethereal nature in the objective world of forms, and divine and spiritual in its three higher planes. when it is said that every human soul was born by detaching itself from the anima mundi, it is meant, esoterically, t

ations a state produced sometimes by physiological disorders, sometimes by mediumship, and at others by drunkenness. but the cause that produces the visions has to be sought deeper than physiology. all such, particularly when produced through mediumship, are preceded by a relaxation of the nervous system, generating invariably an abnormal magnetic condition which attracts to the sufferer waves of astral light. it is these latter that furnish the various hallucinations, which, however, are not always, as physicians would explain them, mere empty and unreal dreams. no one can see that which does not exist-i.e, which is not impressed-in or on the astral waves. but a seer may perceive objects and scenes (whether past, present, or future) which have no relation whatever to himself; and perceive

impressed-in or on the astral waves. but a seer may perceive objects and scenes (whether past, present, or future) which have no relation whatever to himself; and perceive, moreover, several things entirely disconnected with each other at one and the same time, so as to produce the most grotesque and absurd combinations. but drunkard and seer, medium and adept see their respective visions in the astral light; only while the drunkard, the madman, and the untrained medium, or one in a brain fever, see, because they cannot help it, and evoke jumbled visions unconsciously to themselves without being able to control them, the adept and the trained seer have the choice and the control of such visions. they know where to fix their gaze, how to steady the scenes they wish to observe, and how to s

madman, and the untrained medium, or one in a brain fever, see, because they cannot help it, and evoke jumbled visions unconsciously to themselves without being able to control them, the adept and the trained seer have the choice and the control of such visions. they know where to fix their gaze, how to steady the scenes they wish to observe, and how to see beyond the upper outward layers of the astral light. with the former such glimpses into the waves are hallucinations; with the latter they become the faithful reproduction of what actually has been, is, or will be taking place. the glimpses at random, caught by the medium, and his flickering visions in the deceptive light, are transformed under the guiding will of the adept and seer into steady pictures, the truthful representation of

HINE P OVEN READY CHAOS

ion by thundering out bits of the old testament. by the eighteenth century, and the rise of science, the idea of animal magnetism arose in the west, being the first manifestation of the energy model of magick. this model places emphasis on the presence of subtle energies which can be manipulated via a number of techniques. along came bulwer lytton and his idea of vril energy, eliphas levi and the astral light, mediums& ectoplasm, westernised popular accounts of prana, chakras, and kundalini, and eventually, wilhelm reich s orgone energy. the next development came with the popularisation of psychology, mainly due to the psychoanalytic fads of freud, jung& co. during this phase, the otherworlds became the innerworlds, demons were rehoused into the unconscious mind, and hidden masters reveale

ISIS UNVEILED

th semblances of voice and speech. but the guru's influence is there; it is the most powerful shield against the intrusion of the bhuind into the atmosphere of the tfotu, consecrated to the pure, human, and celestial ihtris. the third degree is that in which the fakir or any other candidate both feeb, hears, and sees; and wherein he can at will produce the reflexuma of the pitris on the mirror of astral light. all depends upon his psycho- logical and mesmeric powers, which are always proportionate to the in- tensity of his wul. but the fakir will never control the ak&ia, the spiritu- al life-principle, the omnipotent agent of every phenomenon, in the same degree as an adept of the third and highest initiation. and the 233. pttphyiy: pioa'tn mla (op. fkin, np. xziil digitizecoy google ut is

the mighty one of god, and who took with the gnostics the place of the logos, while the holy spirit was considered life^ with the sect of the naza- reoes, though, their 'spiritus' or holy ghost, had less honor. while nearly eveiy gnostic sect considered it a female power, whether they called it binah, ru'^3, or sophia, the divine intellect; with the nasa- rene sect it was the female spiritus, the astral light, the genetrix of all things of mtdler, the chaos in its evil aspect, made turbid by the demi- urge. at the creation of man "it was light on the side of the father, and it was li^t [material light] on the side of the mothsk. and this is the 'two-fold man" says the zokar "iliat day [the last one] will perish the seven badly-disposed stellars; also the sons of man, who have confessed the

ekhinah, which is his image "the son zeus-belus, or sol-mithra, b an image of the father, an emanation from the supreme light" says movers "he passed for creator "i^ilosophers say the first air is anima mundi. but the garment (shekhinah) is higher than the first air, since it is joined more closely to the ain-soph, the boundless" thus sophia is shekhinah, and sophia- achamoth the anima mundi, the astral light of the kabalists, which con- tains the spiritual and material germs of all uiot is. for the sophia- acbamoth, like eve, of whom she is the prototype, is 'the mother of all that live' iliere are three trinities in the nazarene system as well as in the hiadfl philosophy of the ante- and early- vedic period. while we see the few translators of the kabala, the nasarene codex, and other ab

and moon, names not expressed in either the greek or latin tongues. nat. hi t, xzxviii, 41. in the 'eternal sun' the 'abraxai' the' adotuti' of these gems, we recognise the very amulets ridiculed by the philosophic fliuy th gnoritos etc, p. 283; 2nd ed) viittiut (miracles) as employed by irenaeus. digitizecoy google 234 ms dntehed the whole is surrounded by the makd-samtidra, or the great ses the astral light and ether of the kabalists aod adeiitists; and within the central drclea appears 'the likeness of a man' he is the achamoth^ the gnostics, the twofold unity, or the androgyne man; the heavenly incarnation, and a perfect representation of ze'ir anptn (short-face, the son of a'tiih anpin (long-face" this likeness is now represented in many lamaseries by gautama-buddha, the last of the i

JASMUHEEN THE FOOD OF GODS

the universe; the intelligently guided force of the hierarchical universe. the luscious lifestyle program points of vegetarian diet and service without thought of reward help us to hook into this channel. 5) cosmic vitality: the source of cosmic vitality, permeating in all things. again as the essence of the quantum field, this is the energy band from where the food of gods flows most easily. 6) astral light: the lowest functioning aspect of akasa; the equivalent in the cosmic hierarchy of what the astral model body is to humans; the reservoir of all psychic, moral and physical emanations of the earth. it is on this wave length that the food of gods can flow into our physical form via the violet light and through the higher aspects of our awakened mind. 7) physical universe: the body or g

less sub-elements are aspects of the first element, the cosmic monad and are connected to the seven human senses, of which people who exist in the beta field usually only use five. in order to access the channel of the food of gods, we need to activate our 6th and 7th senses and utilize the elements that work with them. the relationship between the elements and our physical senses are as follows: astral light: hearing; 2. air: touch; 3. fire: sight; 4. water: taste; 5. earth: smell; 6. akasa: intuition; 7. sea of fire: knowing for those open to the metaphysical aspects of this, in dimensional biofield science, the quantum field is an aspect of akasa, which is the second element of the constitution of the universe. the first element is termed a principle and is boundless, inconceivable and

being the origin of the cosmic soul, the source of all intelligent order and laws in the universe. akasa and cosmic fire are the elements of the theta and delta field and all life, all intellect, all action, operates and exists, within the quantum field which is an aspect of akasa. akasa is cosmic ideation, spirit, the alpha of being. at the other end of the scale, the lowest aspect of akasa, is astral light, cosmic substance, matter, the omega of being. akasa is the first born, the living fire, the deity pervading all things. in dimension it is infinite, and is differentiated from space and time in that it is the material cause of sound. this is an aspect of akasa called aditi in sanskrit, a higher principle than astral light. this is the melodious heaven of sound, the abode of the chine

sfully via divine nutrition, my one conclusion is that it is our vibration that determines our success with this, nothing more, nothing less. our vibration allows us to draw this nutrition from the inner planes and back through our cellular structure, if this is our intention. it also allows us to attract increased doses of both internal and external chi, for prana. in the form of cosmic fire and astral light. which are the main elements sustaining all life particles. things like a pure heart, the ability to serve with compassion and kindness, the openness to the higher laws and to using our higher mind, all these tune us powerfully to the channels that can reveal our paranormal powers, of which this ability is just a small by-product. question 12: with so much emphasis in the world on mal

tivated this new self-sustaining template can automatically merge with and override the old light body and meridian fields. i believe that the self sustaining template is a most fascinating and worthwhile biofield device as once activated into elemental equilibrium, it will then regulate the flow of the food of the gods for it is the perfect equilibrium of all of the elements of air, earth, fire, astral light, cosmic fire and akasa, that allows the template to fulfill its self sustaining aspects. the self-sustaining template is a new light body matrix that has been imprinted to achieve specific goals. namely for the physical bio-system to be free from the need of food, divine nutrition: the madonna frequency& the food of gods with jasmuheen 144 sleep, water or aging, for example. this new

K AMBER THE BASICS OF MAGICK

r worlds. psychic energy flows from the spiritual to mental to astral to physical. the physical world is a projection (manifestation, reflection, or shadow) of the higher worlds. our center of consciousness is generally within these higher worlds "we are, to quote the rock music group the police "spirits in the material world. there are many similar terms used by other occult groups. for example 'astral light' is another name for astral world, although it may sometimes also refer to the entire non-physical realm, as may 'inner planes' or 'the invisible world. planes are essentially the same as worlds. vehicles or sheaths are the same as bodies. some groups include an etheric or vital body between physical and astral: it is mostly 'physical' with a little of the lower 'astral' besides. and

LEADBEATER CW GLIMPSES OF MASONIC HISTORY

understanding of the true science of life. 382. another toy with which bacchus played was a top, the symbol of the whirling atom pictured in occult chemistry. yet another was a ball which represented the earth, that particular part of the planetary chain to which the thought of the logos is specially directed at the moment. also he played with a mirror. the mirror has always been a symbol of the astral light, in which the archetypal ideas are reflected and then materialized. thus each of those toys indicates an essential part in the evolution of a solar system. 383. the hidden mysteries 384. the two divisions of the lesser and greater mysteries above-mentioned were generally known, but it was not known that there was always, behind and above those, the greater mystery of the path of holin

LIBER ALEPH

henomena of light, electricity, and the like; nor doth any man demand demonstration of the existence of that thyr other than its conformity with general law. thou therefore, creator and transmitter of thine own energy, needest not to ask whether by this or by some other means thou performest thy work. yet i know not why this thyr of the mathematicians and the physicians should not be one with the astral light, or plastic medium or aub, aud, aur (these three being a trinity) of which our own sages have spoken. and this meditation may bring forth much knowledge physical, which is good, for that which is above is like that which is beneath, and the study of any law leadeth to the understanding of all law. so mayst thou learn in the end that there is no law beyond do what thou wilt. b the book

LIBER LVII

er 418. this number is chiefly important for part ii. it is of no account in the orthodox dogmatic qabalah. yet it is 12 13, the most spiritual form, 13 of the most perfect number, 12, awh [it is wyx, zion, the city of the pyramids..ed.]52 175. a mystic number of venus. 203. abr, initials of ba, b, jwr, the trinity.53 206. rbd, speech .the word of power. 207. rwa, light. contrast with bwa, 9, the astral light, and dwa, 11, the magical light. aub is an illusory thing of witchcraft (cf. obi, obeah; aud is almost= the kundalini force(.odic. force. this illustrates well the difference between the sluggish, viscous 9, and the keen, ecstatic 11.54 210. pertains to part ii. see liber 418. 214. jwr, the air, the mind. 220. pertains to part ii. the number of verses in liber legis. 231. the sum of t

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

expected to have a garden or back yard for the growing of certain herbs necessary to his profession. eliphas levi, the celebrated transcendentalist, makes the following significant statement "the druids were priests and physicians, curing by magnetism and charging amylets with their fluidic influence. their universal remedies were mistletoe and serpents' eggs, because these substances attract the astral light in a special manner. the solemnity with which mistletoe was cut down drew upon this plant the popular confidence and rendered it powerfully magnetic* the progress of magnetism will some day reveal to us the absorbing properties of mistletoe. we shall then understand the secret of those spongy growths which drew the unused virtues of plants and become surcharged with tinctures and savo

lematic of the masonic lodge itself, the trowel, the mallet, and the trestleboad; the rough and trued ashlars; the pyramids and hills of lebanon; the pillars, the temple, and checkerboard floor; and the blazing star and tools of the craft. the center of the apron is occupied by the compass and square, representative of the macrocosm an the microcosm, and the alternately black and white serpent of astral light. below is an acacia branch with seven sprigs, signifying the life centers of the superior and the inferior man. the skull and cross bones are a continual reminder that the spiritual nature attains liberation only after the philosophical death of man's sensuous personality. p. 78 passwords and signs by which their respective excellence could be quickly determined. while all were classi

him, or seven spirits, by whose aid he established his universe. the coils of the snake have been used by the pagans to symbolize the motion and also the orbits of the celestial bodies, and it is probable that the symbol of the serpent twisted around the egg--which was common to many of the ancient mystery schools- represented both the apparent motion of the sun around the earth, and the bands of astral light, or the great magical agent, which move about the planet incessantly. electricity was commonly symbolized by the serpent because of its motion. electricity passing between the poles of a spark gap is serpentine in its motion. force projected through atmosphere was called the great snake. being symbolic of universal force, the serpent was emblematic of both good and evil. force can tea

thought--especially the so-called "prosperity" psychology "willpower-building" metaphysics, and systems of "high-pressure" salesmanship- click to enlarge baphomet, the goat of mendes. from levi's transcendental magic. the practice of magic--either white or black--depends upon the ability of the adept to control the universal life force--that which eliphas levi calls the great magical agent or the astral light. by the manipulation of this fluidic essence the phenomena of transcendentalism are produced. the famous hermaphroditic goat of mendes was a composite creature formulated to symbolize this astral light. it is identical with baphomet the mystic pantheos of those disciples of ceremonial magic, the templars, who probably obtained it from the arabians. p. 102 black magic has merely passed

int is downward, thus symbolizing saturn, the destroyer. beginning in the space immediately to the left of the black point, reading clockwise discloses the cryptic word vitriol formed by the capital letters of the seven latin words in the outer circle. p. 110 there is one vital substance in nature upon which all things subsist. it is called arch us, or vital life force, and is synonymous with the astral light or spiritual air of the ancients. in regard to this substance, eliphas levi has written "light, that creative agent, the vibrations of which are the movement and life of all things; light, latent in the universal ether, radiating about absorbing centres, which, being saturated thereby, project movement and life in their turn, so forming creative currents; light, astralized in the star

h us, and may be called a vital body. this etheric shadow sheath is not dissipated by death, but remains until the physical form is entirely disintegrated. these "etheric doubles "seen around graveyards, have given rise to a belief in ghosts. being much finer in its substances than the earthly body, the etheric double is far more susceptible to impulses and inharmonies. it is derangements of this astral light body that cause much disease. paracelsus taught that a person with a morbid mental attitude could poison his own etheric nature, and this infection, diverting the natural flow of vital life force, would later appear as a physical ailment. all plants and minerals have an invisible nature composed of this "arch us" but each manifests it in a different way. concerning the astral-light bo

ump is called le diable, the devil, and portrays a creature resembling pan with the horns of a ram or deer, the arms and body of a man, and the legs and feet of a goat or dragon. the figure stands upon a cubic stone, to a ring in the front of which are chained two satyrs. for a scepter this so-called demon carries a lighted torch or candle. the entire figure is symbolic of the magic powers of the astral light, or universal mirror, in which the divine forces are reflected in an inverted, or infernal, state. the demon is winged like a bar, showing that it pertains to the nocturnal, or shadow inferior sphere. the animal natures of man, in the form of a male and a female elemental, are chained to its footstool. the torch is the false light which guides unillumined souls to their own undoing. i

ents. its secret significance is as follows: the outer ring enclosed by the lines a and b is the region of schamayim, a qabbalistic name for the supreme deity, signifying the expanse of the heavens, or a spiritual fiery water. schamayim is "the ocean of spirit" within which all created and uncreated things exist and by the life of which they are animated. in the lower worlds schamayim becomes the astral light. the space between b and c marks the orbits or planes of the seven spiritual intelligences called the divine planets (not the visible planets. according to the mysteries, the souls of men enter the lower worlds through ring b, the fixed stars. all creation reflects the glory of schamayim, the energy that filters into the spheres of the elements through the windows of the stars and pla

phur, similarly, is actually salt, sulphur, and mercury, with sulphur predominating. these nine divisions--3 times 3, plus azoth (the mysterious universal life force, equals 10, the sacred decad of pythagoras. concerning the nature of azoth there is much controversy. some view it as the invisible, eternal fire; others as electricity; still others as magnetism. transcendentalism refer to it as the astral light "the universe is surrounded by the sphere of the stars. beyond that sphere is the sphere of schamayim, which is the divine fiery water, the first outflow of the word of god, the flaming river pouring from the presence of the eternal. schamayim, the fiery androgynous water, divides. the fire becomes the solar fire and the water becomes the lunar water. schamayim is the universal mercur

uld also have become an oracle. certain early works on magical philosophy hint that the ark of the covenant was oracular in character because of specially prepared chambers in its interior. these by their shape and arrangement were so attuned to the vibrations of the invisible world that they caught and amplified the voices of the ages imprinted upon and eternally existent in the substance of the astral light. unskilled in these ancient subtleties of their profession, modern architects often create architectural absurdities which would cause their creators to blush with shame did they comprehend their actual symbolic import. thus, phallic emblems are strewn in profusion among the adornments of banks, office buildings, and department stores. christian churches also may be surmounted with br

MASTERING WITCHCRAFT

the english magus francis barratt had gathered together a school of twelve students of arcane lore with himself as leader, a traditional coven, in fact. it is probably to this magical society that the great french occultist eliphas levi, alias abbe constant, and lord bulwer lytton had belonged, both of whom widely publicized the marvels of the newly rediscovered witch power, under the name of the astral light in levi's case, vril in lytton's. baron reichenbach was also trying to put this same mysterious energy, which such mediums as d. d. home, eusapia palladino, and the fox sisters were flaunting before the public, on a firmer scientific footing in his experiments with what he designated "odylic force" or "od" the task was taken up in earnest by the english society for psychical research

MORALS AND DOGMA

y and the religion; and its process will succeed only for the adept who has attained the sovereignty of will, and so become the king of the elementary world: for the grand agent of the operation of the sun, is that force described in the symbol of hermes, of the table of emerald; it is the universal magical power; the spiritual, fiery, motive power; it is the od, according to the hebrews, and the astral light, according to others. therein is the secret fire, living and philosophical, of which all the hermetic philosophers speak with the most mysterious reserve: the universal seed, the secret whereof they kept, and which they represented only under the figure of the caduceus of hermes. this is the grand hermetic arcanum. what the adepts call dead matter are bodies as found in nature; living

the word of god. the creation of gold in the great work is effected by transmutation and multiplication. raymond lulle says, that to make gold, one must have gold and mercury; and to make silver, silver and mercury. and he adds "i mean by mercury, that mineral spirit so fine and pure that it gilds even the seed of gold, and silvers that of silver" he meant by this, either electricity, or od, the astral light. the salt and sulphur serve in the work only to prepare the mercury, and it is to the mercury especially that we must assimilate, and, as it were, incorporate with it, the magnetic agent. paracelsus, lulle, and flamel alone seem to have perfectly known this mystery. the great work of hermes is, therefore, an operation essentially magical, and the highest of all, for it supposes the ab

re; after which it precipitates itself rapidly toward the earth, whither it is attracted by a fixed nature like unto its own. these words, in form enigmatic, but clear at bottom, distinctly express what the philosophers mean by their mercury, fecundated by sulphur, and which becomes the master and regenerator of the salt. it is the azoth, the universal magnetic force, the grand magical agent, the astral light, the light of life, fecundated by the mental force, the intellectual energy, which they compare to sulphur, on account of its affinities with the divine fire. as to the salt, it is absolute matter. whatever is matter contains salt; and all salt [nitre] may be converted into pure gold by the combined action of sulphur and mercury, which sometimes act so rapidly, that the transmutation

the great work, and that even the most despicable and apparently vile matters may be changed into gold, which is true in this sense, that they all contain the original salt-principle, represented in our emblems by the cubical stone. to know how to extract from all matter the pure salt concealed in it, is to have the secret of the stone. wherefore this is a saline stone, which the od or universal astral light decomposes or re-compounds: it is single and manifold; for it may be dissolved like ordinary salt, and incorporated with other substances. obtained by analysis, we might term it _the universal sublimate_ found by way of synthesis, it is the true _panacea_ of the ancients, for it cures all maladies of soul and body, and has been styled _par-excellence, the medicine of all nature. when

e electric force, primarily developed as magnetism, and in which is perhaps the secret of life or the vital force. paracelsus, the great reformer in medicine, discovered magnetism long before mesmer, and pushed to its last consequences this luminous discovery, or rather this initiation into the magic of the ancients, who understood the grand magical agent better than we do, and did not regard the astral light, azoth, the universal magnetism of the sages, as an animal and particular fluid, emanating only from certain special beings. the four elements, the four symbolic animals, and the re-duplicated principles correspond with each other, and are thus arranged by the hermetic masons [illustration] the air and earth represent the _male_ principle; and the fire and water belong to the _female

REGARDIE ISRAEL THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN

to the original -5 careful readings since. structure, and function. of the great work itself- 7 reflecting, meditating ,l i would suggest reading :rn the task of memorizing found within the first i.?abet has no connotation_ a 1 il "holy" symbols-pow- 2,-1.1ated with dogma or esomr r= a r i z intgh ese letters is to ri- 2. 2 all become acquainted are then "built" within the "sphere with clay. the astral light as termed constant) is malleable by focused symbols thus created within the aura and guidance and prevent emotional of us have felt depleted by being around by a negative environment. using the description of this ritual right hand at full extension straight opposite the left hip tracing a large inverted and outwards from the left shoulder, reconnectingat the starting point. circle co

standing up in robes and holding dagger. put your consciousness in this form and go to the east. make yourself "feel" there by touching the wall, opening your eyes, stamping on the floor, etc. first knowledge lecture 55 begin the ritual and go round the room mentally vibrating the words and trying to feel them as coming from the form. finish in the east and try to see your results in the astral light, then walk back and stand behind the head of your body and let yourself be reabsorbed (in the introduction, page 106, i have given instructions for the performance of the qabalistic cross. when tracing the pentagrams, the imagination should be exerted to visualize them as flaming stars all about one. the impression should be of a fire ring studded in four places with stars of flame. l

death. for this will be a withdrawing of the vital forces of the name, which are in the citadel of tiphareth, to locate them in yesod, which is a more easily attacked position. for the automatic consciousness is the translator of the ruach unto the nephesch. from malkuth is formed the whole physical body under the command and presidency of the nephesch. the nephesch is the subtle body of refined astral light upon which, as on an invisible pattern, the physical body is extended. the physical body is permeated throughout by the rays of the ruach, of which it is the material completion. the nephesch shineth through the material body and formeth the magical mirror or sphere of sensation. this magical mirror or sphere of sensation is an imitation or copy of the sphere of the universe. the spac

d lectures. of traveling in the spirit vision the symbol, place, direction, or plane being known whereon it is desired to act, a thought-ray as before is sent unto the corresponding part of the sphere of sensation of the nephesch. the thought-ray is sent like an arrow from the bow, right through the circumference of the sphere of sensation direct unto the place desired. arrived there, a sphere of astral light is formed by the agency of the lower will, illuminated by the higher will, and acting through the spiritual consciousness by reflection along the thought- ray. this sphere of astral light is partly drawn from the surrounding atmosphere. this sphere being formed, a simulacrum of the person of the skryer is reflected into it along the thought-ray, and this united consciousness is then p

ds upon the nature of the element to be invoked (a description of both the active and passive spirit pentagrams and how to trace them is given in a later chapter- see page 9, volume 111) the spirit pentagram, active or passive, is visualized in white light, within the circle already traced, and is "charged" by thrusting the sceptre toward the center, visualizing the figure glowing strongly in the astral light, the brilliance of the pentagram flaring brightly at the force of the hiero' p rojection. the hierophant then begins the invoking pentagram of the element, following the circle around with sceptre from the angle where the spirit pentagram ended to the angle where the pentagram of the element begins (see page 13, volume i11 for specific instructions on invoking the elements by pentagra

tor, and reads: hiereus the tree of life and the three mother letters are the keys wherewith to unlock the caduceus of hermes. the upper point of the wand rests on kether, and the wings stretch out to chokmah and <84> binah, the three supernal sephiroth. the lower seven are embraced by the serpents, whose heads fall upon chesed and geburah. they are the twin serpents of egypt- the currents of the astral light. furthermore, the wings and top of the wand form the letter shin, the symbol of fire; the heads and upper halves of the serpents form aleph, the symbol of air; while their tails enclose mem, the symbol of water. the fire of life above, the waters of creation below, and the air symbol vibrating between them. hierophant comes to the east of altar. hegemon directs zelator to face him fro

rom binah, while the banner with the cross refers to the four rivers of paradise and the letters of the holy name. he is also axieros, the first of the samothracian kabiri, as well as zeus and osiris. the left hand figure below, rising from the earth is samael, the ruler of volcanic fire. he is also axiokersos, the second kabir, pluto and typhon. the right hand figure below is anael, the ruler of astral light. she is also axiokersa, the third kabir, ceres and persephone, isis and nephthys. she is, therefore, represented in duplicate form, and rising from the waters. around both these figures dart flashes of lightning <105> these three principle figures form the fire triangle, and further rep resent fire operating in the other three elements of earth, air, and water. the central lower figur

of theoricus "the tree of life and the three mother letters are the keys wherewith to unlock the caduceus of hermes. the upper point of the wand rests on kether and the wings stretch out to chokrnah and binah, thus comprehending the three supernal sephiroth. the lower seven are embraced by the serpents whose heads fall on chesed and geburah. they are the twin serpents of egypt and the currents of astral light. furthermore, the wings and the top of the wand form the letter shin, the symbol of fire; the heads and upper halves of the serpents form aleph the symbol of air; while their tails enclose mem, the symbol of water- the fire of life above, the waters of creation below, and the air symbol vibrating between them" in addition to this, the caduceus of kerux represents the balanced forces o

e left foot as it is placed beside the right. bring the left hand to the mouth and touch the centre of the lower lip with the left forefinger. close the other fingers and thumb, and drop the right hand to the side. imagine that a watery vapor encircles and encloses you. this is the reflux of the current. this sign is also used as a protection against attack. the sign represents a concentration of astral light about the person. having given the sign as above, it is a protection against all attack and danger of obsession. to make it yet stronger, the form of the god should be taken. if spiritual force is required, formulate as if standing on a lotus or rising from it. for force in contemplation and meditation, formulate as if seated upon a lotus. but for more material force, as if standing u

to be poured away; if earth, ground to powder and scattered abroad; if a hard substance as a metal, it must be decharged, banished and thrown aside; if a flame of fire, it shall be extinguished; or if a vial containing air, it shall be opened and after that well rinsed out with pure water. 111. v n- invisibility a-the shroud of concealment. b-the magician. c-the guards of concealment <172> d-the astral light to be moulded into the shroud. e-the equation of the symbols in the sphere of sensation. 388 the golden dawn: volume iii book five f-the invocation of the higher; the placing of a barrier without the astral form; the clothing of the same with obscurity through the proper invocation. g-formulating clearly the idea of becoming invisible. the formulating of the exact distance at which th

s of water, adore your creator. still facing west, vibrate very powetfully the fourth enochian key invoking 413 414 the golden dawn: volume iii book six the line hcoma from the tablet of union. fornulate an astral banner of the east surrounding one. in the name of elohirn tzabaoth and in the name of al, i command ye, 0 ye dwellers in the realm of water that ye fashion for me a magical base in the astral light wherein i may invoke the divine forces to charge this talisman of tzedek. go east, to begin the supreme lnvoking ritual of the jupiter hexagram. precede with qabalistic cross, closing with key-word. return to alfar, so that the latter is between the operator and the previously ascertained position of jupiter. the magus should wear, in addition to his rose cross lumen, a seal of jupite

hat it may be mine forever. bind it unto this creature of talismans which i have created (make lnvoking <227> circle) in the name of ra-agiosel, great king of the west, spirits of water ye i command. concentrate upon this creature of talismans 422 the golden dawn: volume 111 book six the substance of your realm so that it may have a body firm and substantial, manifesting unto me as a solid in the astral light that through it the powers of tzedek may manifest unto me. creature of talismans i have bound unto thee the water. so pass we on. take up talisman, raise it aloft again attracting the light, circumambulate, saying: 0 lord of the universe, thou art in all things, and thy name is in all things. before thee the shadows of the night roll back and the darkness hasteth away. pass on to nort

ames and letters of the holy tablet of union, by the mighty names of god: eheieh, agla, yhvh elohim, and by the great lord of silence, hoor-po-krat-ist, by your deep purple darkness, and by the white and brilliant light of the crown above my head, do i conjure ye. collect yourselves about me, and clothe this my astral form with an egg of blue, a shroud of darkness. gather yourselves, ye flakes of astral light, and shroud my form in your substantial night. clothe me and hide me but at my control. darken man's eyes that he see me not. gather at my word divine, for ye are the watchers, and my soul is the shrine. invoke the highest by qabalistic cross and 1.n.r.l. formulate the black egg around you, the idea of becoming invisible. imagine the results of success, then say: let the shroud of con

re and invoke this shroud of concealment. by your deep purple darkness, and by the white brilliance of the genius about and within me, i invoke ye and conjure ye. i exorcise ye potently. i command and constrain ye. i compel ye to absolute, instant, and complete obedience, and that without deception or delay. for the light of my genius is upon me, and i have made yhvh my hope. gather, ye flakes of astral light, to shroud my. form in your substantial night. clothe me and hide me in an egg of blue. darken man's eyes, and blind him in his soul, so that he see me not <235> gather, 0 gather at my word divine, for ye are the watchers, my soul the shrine. turn around three times. resume former position and say: in the name of the lord of the universe, and by the power of my augoeides, and by the a

xarpeh, comananu, tabitom, i constrain thee. by the name of hoor-pohat- ist i invoke this shroud of concealment. by the deep purple darkness of the eternal spirit of life, and by the white brilliance of the genius within me, i invoke ye and conjure ye to absolute and instant obedience, without decep tion or delay. for the crown of my father is upon me, and inyhvh is my trust. gather, ye flakes of astral light, and shroud my form in your substantial night. clothe me, and hide me in an egg of blue, so that seeing me, men may see me not, neither understand. but that they may see the thing that they see not, and comprehend not the thing that they behold. for ye are the watchers, my soul the shrine. egg of divine darkness, shroud of concealment, long hast thou dwelt concealed. quit the light, t

ame of bataivah, great king of the east, spirits of air adore your creator. still facing east, vibrate powerfully the third enochian key invoking the line harp from the tablet of union. then formulate an astral banner of the east about one. in the name of shaddai el chai, and in the name of yhvh, i command ye, ye dwellers in the realms of air, that ye fashion for me a powerful magical base in the astral light whereon i may build a true body of transformation. perform supreme lnvoking ritual of the luna hexagram, precede with qabalistic cross, closing with key-word. return to altar, face east, and say: crowned with star-light, and clothedwith the sun, i invoke thee who art the ultimate root of all things, for thy righteousness and love are the foundations of the universe. look upon me as i

at i, ad majorem adonai gloriam* neophyte of the golden dawn, and a frater roseae rubeae et aureae crucis, have summoned ye to my presence for the forming of a true and potent link between my human soul in malkuth and the great goddess isis, whose true abode is in the supemals, yet reflected in yesod, the eternal foundation of all things. to this end i now formulate a magical image of isis in the astral light, so that by its assumption and with the divine aid i may be transformed from corruption into incorruption, and putting aside mortality become divinity itself through the descent of that supernal light which cometh with healing in its wings. and i <242> solemnly pledge myself to use this body of transformation of the goddess isis, for the forwarding of the highest aspirations of my sou

e of the formulation of zsis, saying: 0 form of isis i formulate thee in the name ad majorern adonai gloriam* that thou mayest become a living body for the manifestation of the wisdom of god-head. and in the holy names of the goddesses of the scales of the balance, i purify thee with water and consecrate thee with fire, that from the vapours of these elements a basis may be formed for thee in the astral light. pass to the east of the altar, facing west. in the west, kneeling at the altar where in the neophyte ceremony the nmly-admitted aspirant would be, formulate thegod-form of isis. imagine that your left hand holds the left hand of the form. hold the black section of the lotus wand in the right hand, tracing over the form such letters, sigils, and lineal figures as may occur in the foll

: a silver crescent. prithivi-earth. symbol: a yellow square or cube. in brief, the traditional occult concept of the tattwa is that of a vital current of ether or force-the hindu pranas-which issues in a steady stream from the sun. that stream is five-fold, and flows around our earth, vitalising its astral substance or its sphere of sensation. in short, they are the currents of sub-planes of the astral light. the theory has it that the element of akasa is strongest at dawn, when the sun rises, and its power continues for the space of two hours, when its force subsides and glides into vayu, air. eyellow square l prithm-earth vayu-air tejas-fire ver crescent 2 apas-water tattwa symbols 458 the golden dawn: volume tv book seven this also persists or is in course for the same period. each tat

. the paths of beth and mercury link kether the crown with binah, the aimah elohim. the magician, therefore, is reflected in the intellect which stores and gathers up knowledge and pours it into the house of life, binah. the number of the path, 12, suggests the synthesis of the zodiac, as mercury is the synthesis of the planets. the colours yellow, violet, grey and indigo, point to the mysterious astral light surrounding the great adept. it is a card linked with the name tahuti and hermes as the previous one is with krishna and harparkrat or dionysius. ii. the high priestess. the high priestess rules the long path uniting 588 the tarot trumps 589 kether to tiphareth, crossing the reciprocal paths of venus and leo. she is the great feminine force controlling the very source of life, gatheri

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART I

e of all ideas, is the mother of all forms, and transmits them from emanation to emanation, merely diminished or modified 26 the doctrine of transcendental magic according to the density of the media. secondary forms are reflections which return to the font of the emanated light. the forms of objects, being a modification of light, remain in the light where the reflection consigns them. hence the astral light, or terrestrial fluid, which we call the great magnetic agent, is saturated with all kinds of images or reflections. now, our soul can evoke these, and subject them to its diaphane, as the kabalists term it. such images are always present before us, and are effaced only by the more powerful impressions of reality during waking hours, or by preoccupation of the mind, which makes our im

great magnetic agent, is saturated with all kinds of images or reflections. now, our soul can evoke these, and subject them to its diaphane, as the kabalists term it. such images are always present before us, and are effaced only by the more powerful impressions of reality during waking hours, or by preoccupation of the mind, which makes our imagination inattentive to the fluidic panorama of the astral light. when we sleep, this spectacle presents itself spontaneously before us, and in this way dreams are produced dreams vague and incoherent if some governing will do not remain active during the sleep, giving, even unconsciously to our intelligence, a direction to the dream, which then transforms into vision. animal magnetism is nothing but an artificial sleep produced by the voluntary or

l sleep produced by the voluntary or enforced union of two wills, one of which is awake while the other slumbers that is, one of which directs the other in the choice of reflections for the transformation of dreams into visions and the attainment of truth by means of images. thus, somnambulists do not actually travel to the place where they are sent by the magnetizer; they evoke its images in the astral light and can behold nothing which does not exist in that light. the astral light has a direct action on the nerves, which are its conductors in the animal economy, transmitting it to the brain. it follows that, in a state of somnambulism, it is possible to see by means of the nerves, without being dependent on radiant light, the astral fluid being a latent light, in the same way that physi

rmined by science. this is for the operation of magnetism between two or more persons. solitary magnetism requires preparations of which we have spoken in, our initial chapter, when enumerating and establishing in all their difficulty the essential qualities of a veritable adept. in the following chapters we shall elucidate further this important and fundamental point. the empire of will over the astral light, which is the physical soul of the four elements, is represented in magic, by the pentagram, placed at the head of this chapter. the elementary spirits are subservient to this sign when employed with underthe pentagram 27 standing, and by placing it in the circle or on the table of evocations, they can be rendered tractable, which is magically called their imprisonment. let us explain

sion of a real power or of a precipitate will. the intelligence of the wise man therefore gives value to his pantacle, as science gives weight to his will, and spirits comprehend this power immediately. thus, by means of the pentagram, spirits can be forced to appear in vision, whether in the waking or sleeping state, by themselves leading before our diaphane their reflection, which exists in the astral light, if they have lived, or a reflection analogous to their spiritual logos if they have not lived on earth. this explains all visions, and accounts for the dead invariably appearing to seers, either such as they were upon earth, or such as they are in the grave, never as they subsist in a condition which escapes the perceptions of our actual organism. pregnant women are influenced more t

hey have lived, or a reflection analogous to their spiritual logos if they have not lived on earth. this explains all visions, and accounts for the dead invariably appearing to seers, either such as they were upon earth, or such as they are in the grave, never as they subsist in a condition which escapes the perceptions of our actual organism. pregnant women are influenced more than others by the astral light, which concurs in the formation of the child, and offers them incessant reminiscences of the forms that abound therein. this explains how it is that women of the highest virtue deceive the malignity of observers by equivocal resemblances. on the fruit of their marriage they impress frequently an image which has struck them in dream, and it is thus that the same physiognomies are perpe

iently of yourself to be never intoxicated? then will you direct the terrible and fatal power of intoxication. if you would make others drunk, possess them with the desire of drink, but do not partake of it yourself. that man will dispose of the love of others who is master of his own. if you would possess, do not give. the world is magnetized by the light of the sun, and we are magnetized by the astral light of the world. that which operates in the body of the planet repeats itself in us. within us there are three analogical and hierarchic worlds, as in all nature. man is the microcosm or little world, and, according to the doctrine of analogies, whatsoever is in the great world is reproduced in the small. hence we have three centres of fluidic attraction and projection the brain, the hea

ntal magic selves in communication with the universal fluid supplied to us by the nervous system. these three centres are, moreover, the seat of a triple magnetic operation, as we shall explain elsewhere. when the magus has attained lucidity, whether through the mediation of a pythoness or by his own development, he communicates and directs at will the magnetic vibrations in the whole mass of the astral light, the currents of which he divines by means of the magic wand, which is a perfected divining rod. by the aid of these vibrations he influences the nervous system of persons made subject to his action, accelerates or suspends the currents of life, soothes or tortures, heals or hurts in fine, slays or brings to life. here, however, we pause in presence of the smile of incredulity. let us

we shall demonstrate later on that death is preceded always by a lethargic sleep, and hence takes place gradually; that resurrection is possible in certain cases; that lethargy is a real but uncompleted death; and that the final paroxysm is in many cases subsequent to inhumation. this, however, is not the subject of the present chapter. we affirm now that a lucid will can act upon the mass of the astral light, and in concurrence with other wills, which it absorbs and draws along, can determine great and irresistible currents. we say also that the astral light condenses or rarefies in proportion as currents accumulate, more or less, at certain centres. when it is deficient in the energy required for the support of life, diseases accompanied by sudden decomposition follow, of a kind which ba

imalculae observed or supposed by some specialists may be the effect rather than the cause. cholera should be treated therefore by insufflation, did not the operator thereby run the chance of an exchange with the patient which would be very formidable for himself. every intelligent effort of will is a projection of the human fluid or light, and here it is needful to distinguish the human from the astral light, and animal from universal magnetism. in making use of the word fluid, we employ an accepted expression, and seek to be understood in this manner, but we are far from deciding that the latent light is a fluid. everything prompts us, on the contrary, to prefer the system of vibrations in the explanation of this phenomenal subject. however it may be, the light in question, being the ins

tic assimilation that it is distributed without confusion. hence it is terrestrial in its affinity with the sphere of the earth and human exclusively in its affinity with men. it is for this reason that electricity, caloric, light and magnetism, produced by ordinary physical means, not only do not originate, but tend rather to neutralize magical equilibrium 31 the effects of animal magnetism. the astral light, subordinated to a blind mechanism, and proceeding from arbitrary automatic centres, is a dead light and works mathematically, following given impulsions or fatal laws. the human light is fatal only to the ignorant, performing chance experiments; in the seer it is subjected to intelligence, submitted to imagination and dependent on will. this light, continually projected by the will

attractive faculty of one draws the expansive faculty of the other, a tendency is produced which is termed sympathy; then imagination, calling up to it all the rays or reflections analogous to that which it experiences, makes a poem of the desires which captivate will, and if the persons differ in sex, it occasions in them, or more commonly in the weaker of the two, a complete intoxication of the astral light, which is termed passion par excellence, or love. love is one of the great instruments of magical power, but it is categorically forbidden to the magus, at least as an intoxication or passion. woe to the samson of the kabalah if he permit himself to be put asleep by delilah! the hercules of science, who exchanges his royal sceptre for the distaff of omphale, will soon experience the v

he kabalah if he permit himself to be put asleep by delilah! the hercules of science, who exchanges his royal sceptre for the distaff of omphale, will soon experience the vengeance of dejanira, and nothing will be left for him but the pyre of mount oetna, in order to escape the devouring folds of the coat of nessus. sexual love is ever an illusion, for it is the result of an imaginary mirage. the astral light is the universal seducer, typified by the serpent of genesis' this subtle agent, ever active, ever vigorous, ever fruitful in alluring dreams and sensuous images; this force, which of itself is blind and subordinated to every will, whether for good or evil; this ever-renewing circulus of unbridled life, which produces vertigo in the imprudent; this corporeal spirit; this fiery body; t

uge; it is a serpent but it is also an aureole; it is a fire, but it may belong equally to the torments of infernus or the sacrifice of incense offered up to heaven. to dispose of it, we must, like the predestined woman, set our foot upon its head. in the elementary world water corresponds to the kabalistic woman and fire to the serpent. to subdue the serpent, that is, to govern the circle of the astral light, we must place ourselves outside its currents: in other words, we must isolate ourselves. for this reason apollonius of tyana wrapped himself completely in a man32 the doctrine of transcendental magic tle of fine wool, setting his feet thereon and drawing it over his head. then he bent his back in semicircular fashion, and closed his eyes, after performing certain rites probably magne

the fantastic and fortuitous assemblages of forms which people our nightmares with such abominable monstrosities. to be sucked down by this whirling stream is to fall into abysses of madness, more frightful than those of death; to expel the shades of this chaos and compel it to give perfect forms to our thoughts this is to be a man of genius; it is to create, it is to be victorious over hell! the astral light directs the instincts of animals and offers battle to the intelligence of man, which it strives to pervert by the enticements of its reflections and the illusion of its images. it is a fatal and inevitable operation, directed and made still more calamitous by elementary spirits and suffering souls, whose restless wills seek out sympathies in our weakness and tempt us, but not so much

llusion of its images. it is a fatal and inevitable operation, directed and made still more calamitous by elementary spirits and suffering souls, whose restless wills seek out sympathies in our weakness and tempt us, but not so much to destroy us as to win friends for themselves. that book of consciences which, according to christian doctrine, shall be opened at the last day, is no other than the astral light, which preserves the impress of every logos, that is to say, of all actions and all forms. our acts modify our magnetic respiration in such a way that a seer, meeting any person for the first time, can tell whether he is innocent or criminal, and what are his virtues or his crimes. this faculty, which belongs to divination, was called by the christian mystics of the early church the d

tic respiration in such a way that a seer, meeting any person for the first time, can tell whether he is innocent or criminal, and what are his virtues or his crimes. this faculty, which belongs to divination, was called by the christian mystics of the early church the discernment of spirits. those who abdicate the empire of reason and permit their wills to wander in pursuit of reflections in the astral light, are subject to alternations of mania and melancholy which have originated all the marvels of demoniacal possession, though it is true, at the same time, that by means of these reflections impure spirits can act upon such souls, make use of them as docile instruments and even habitually torment their organism, wherein they enter and reside by obsession, or embryonically. these kabalis

essively rash to practise its rites from curiosity, by way of experimagical equilibrium 33 ment and as if to exploit higher forces. the inquisitive who, without being adepts, busy themselves with evocations or occult magnetism, are like children playing with fire in the neighbourhood of a cask of gunpowder; sooner or later they will fall victims to some terrible explosion. to be isolated from the astral light it is not enough to envelop one's self in a woollen fabric; we must also, and above all, impose absolute tranquillity on mind and heart; we must have quitted the world of passions and be assured of perseverance in the spontaneous operations of an inflexible will. we must reiterate frequently the acts of this will, for, as we shall see in the introduction to the ritual, it is by acts o

res and enchanted potions. but we shall not enter here upon this dangerous aspect of the practice, which cornelius agrippa himself terms venomous magic. it is true that there are no longer pyres for sorcerers, but always, and more than ever, are there penalties dealt out to malefactors. let us confine ourselves therefore to stating, as the occasion offers, the reality of such power. to direct the astral light we must understand also its twofold vibration, as well as the balance of forces termed magical equilibrium, expressed in the kabalah by the senary. considered in its first cause, this equilibrium is the will of god; it is liberty in man and mathematical equilibrium in matter. equilibrium produces stability and duration. liberty generates the immortality of man, and the will of god giv

n of ideas save that which is demonstrated by realization. in other words, what is true in the cause manifests in the effect. what is not realized does not exist. the realization of speech is the logos properly so called. a thought is realized in becoming speech; it is realized also by signs, sounds and representations of signs: here is the first degree of realization. then it is imprinted on the astral light by means of the signs of writing or speech; it influences other minds by reflections upon them; it is refracted by crossing the diaphane of other men; it assumes new forms and proportions; it is translated into acts and modifies the world: this is the last degree of realization. men who are born into a world modified by an idea bear away with them the mark thereof, and it is thus that

ds by reflections upon them; it is refracted by crossing the diaphane of other men; it assumes new forms and proportions; it is translated into acts and modifies the world: this is the last degree of realization. men who are born into a world modified by an idea bear away with them the mark thereof, and it is thus that the word is made flesh. the mark of the disobedience of adam, preserved in the astral light, could be effaced only by the stronger mark of the obedience of the saviour, and thus the original sin and redemption of the world can be explained in a natural and magical sense. the astral light, or soul of the world, was the instrument of adam's omnipotence; it became afterwards that of his punishment, being corrupted and troubled by his sin, which intermingled an impure reflection

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART II

balanced by the negative. the head corresponds with the two feet, each hand with a hand and foot, each of the two feet with the head and one hand. this ruling sign of equilibrated light represents the spirit of order and harmony; it is the sign of the omnipotence of the magus, and hence, when broken or incorrectly drawn, it represents astral intoxication, abnormal and ill-regulated projections of astral light and therefore bewitchments, perversity, madness-all that, in a word, which the magi term the signature of lucifer. there is another signature which also symbolizes the mysteries of light, namely, the sign of solomon, whose talismans bear on one side the impression of his seal which we have given in our gdoctrine, h and on the other the following signature which is 10 the ritual of tra

ce or terror. he must be without bodily defects and proof against all contradictions and all difficulties. the first and most important of magical operations is the attainment of this rare pre-eminence. we have said that impassioned ecstasy may produce the same results as absolute superiority, and this is true as to the issue but not as to the direction of magical operations. passion projects the astral light forcibly and impresses unforeseen movements on the universal agent, but it cannot curb with the facility that it impels, and then its destiny resembles that of hippolytus dragged by his own horses, or phalaris victimized himself by the instrument of torture which he had invented for others. human volition realized by action is like a cannon-ball and recedes before no obstacle. it eith

ctors, whose natural discernment is falsified by the sophistries of the schools. true practical magicians are found almost invariably in the country, and are frequently uninstructed persons and simple shepherds. furthermore, certain physical organizations are better adapted than others for the revelations of the occult world. there are sensitive and sympathetic natures, with whom intuition in the astral light is, so to speak, inborn; certain afflictions and certain complaints react upon the nervous system and, independently of the concurrence of the will, may convert it into a divinatory apparatus of less or more perfection. but these phenomena are exceptional, and generally magical power should and can be acquired by perseverance and labour. there are also some substances which produce ec

sensation of warmth and cold in the hand, or in both hands when both are being used, which sensation the subject should experience at the same time, but in a contrary sense, that is, with a wholly opposite alternative. the pentagram, or sign of the microcosmos, represents, among other magical mysteries, the double sympathy of the human extremities with, each other and with the circulation of the astral light in the human body. thus, when a man is represented in the star of the pentagram, as may be seen in the occult philosophy of agrippa, it should be observed that the head corresponds in masculine sympathy with the right foot and in feminine sympathy with the left foot; that the right hand corresponds in the same way with the left hand and left foot, and reciprocally of the other hand. t

sponds in the same way with the left hand and left foot, and reciprocally of the other hand. this must be borne in mind when making magnetic passes, if we seek to govern the whole organism and bind all members by their proper chains of analogy and natural sympathy. similar knowledge is required for the use of the pentagram in the conjuration of spirits, and in the evocation of forms errant in the astral light, vulgarly called necromancy, as we shall explain in the fifth chapter of this gritual h. but it is well to observe here that every action promotes a reaction, and that in magnetizing others, or influencing them magically, we establish between them and ourselves a current of contrary but analogous influence which may subject us to them instead of subjecting them to us, as happens frequ

ut even the anterior forms are not destroyed, since they remain in our memory. do we not still see in imagination the child whom we once knew, though now he is an old man? the very traces which we believe to be effaced from our memory are not in reality blotted out, for a fortuitous circumstance may evoke and recall them. but after what manner do we see them? as we have already said, it is in the astral light, which transmits them to our brain by the mechanism of the nervous system. on the other hand, all forms are proportional and analogical the triangle of pantacles 23 to the idea which has determined them; they are the natural character, the signature of that idea, as the magi term it, and so soon as the idea is evoked actively the form is realized and bodied forth. schroepffer, the fam

the four the four elementary forms separate and distinguish roughly the created spirits which the universal movement disengages from the central fire. the spirit toils everywhere and fructifies matter by life; all matter is animated; thought and soul are everywhere. by possessing ourselves of the thought which produces diverse forms we become masters of forms and make them serve our purposes. the astral light is saturated with such souls, which it disengages in the unceasing generation of beings. these souls have imperfect wills, which can be governed and employed by wills more powerful; then mighty invisible chains form and may occasion or determine great elementary commotions. the phenomena established by the criminal trials of magic, and quite recently by m. eudes de mirville, have no o

gence and love! lead us to immortality by sacrifice, that we may be found worthy one day to offer thee water, blood and tears, for the remission of sins! amen. fire is exorcised by the sprinkling of salt, incense, white resin, camphor and sulphur; by thrice pronouncing the three names of the genii of fire: michael, king of the sun and lightning; samael, king of volcanoes; and anael, prince of the astral light; and, finally, by reciting the prayer of the salamanders immortal, eternal, ineffable and uncreated father of all things, who art borne upon the ever-rolling chariot of worlds which revolve unceasingly; lord of ethereal immensities, where the throne of thy power is exalted, from which height thy terrible eyes discern all things and thy holy and beautiful ears unto all things hearken

ffects which it is designed to obtain from them. divination by the four elementary forms, respectively known as aeromancy, hydromancy, pyromancy and geomancy, is performed after various manners, which all depend on the will and the translucid or imagination of the operator. in fact, the four elements are only instruments which assist second sight. now, second sight is the faculty of seeing in the astral light, and it is as natural as the first or sensible and ordinary sight, but it can operate only by abstraction of the senses. somnambulists and ecstatics enjoy second sight naturally, but this sight is more lucid when the abstraction is more complete. abstraction is produced by astral intoxication, that is, by an excess of light which completely saturates, and hence stupefies, the nervous

he will belie herself or disturb the order of her possibilities. the healing of nervous diseases by word, breath, or contact; resurrection in certain cases; resistance of evil wills sufficient to disarm and confound murderers; even the faculty of making one's self invisible by confusing the sight of those whom it is important to elude. all this is a natural effect of projecting or withdrawing the astral light. thus was valentius dazzled and terror-struck on entering the temple of cesarea, even as heliodorus of old, overwhelmed by a sudden madness in the temple of jerusalem, believed himself scourged and trampled by angels. thus also the admiral de coligny imposed respect on his assassins and could only be despatched by a madman who fell upon him with averted face. what rendered joan of arc

s of fumigations and perfumes; but true magnetic ability should transcend these auxiliaries, all more or less inimical to reason and destructive of health? m. ragon, in his learned work on occult masonry, gives the recipe for a series of medicaments calculated to induce the exaltation of somnambulism. it is by no means a knowledge to be despised, but prudent magists should avoid its practice. the astral light is projected by glance, by voice, and by the thumb and palm of the hand. music is a potent auxiliary of the voice, and hence comes the word enchantment. no musical instrument is more bewitching than the human voice, but the far-away notes of a violin or harmonica may augment its power. the patient whom it is proposed to subjugate is prepared in this way; and when he is half-stupefied

vel, two loving and suffering hearts, encircled by twelve pentagrams. everyone will tell you that the wearers of this medal do not attach such significance to it, but on this account it is only more absolutely magical, having a dual sense and consequently a double virtue. the ecstatic on the authority of whose revelations this talisman was engraved, had already beheld it existing perfectly in the astral light, which demonstrates once more the intimate connexion of ideas and signs, giving a new sanction to the symbolism of universal magic. the greater the importance and solemnity brought to bear on the execution and consecration of talismans and pantacles, the more virtue they acquire, as will be under stood upon the evidence of the principles which we have established. such consecration sh

philosophy and religion, while its processes the great work 65 are successful only for the adept who has attained sovereign volition, and has thus become monarch of the elementary world, for the great agent of the solar work is that force described in the hermetic symbol of the gemerald table h: it is universal magical power; it is the igneous spiritual motor; it is the od of the hebrews and the astral light, according to the expression which we have adopted in this work. there is the secret, living and philosophical fire, of which all hermetic philosophers speak only under the most mysterious reservations; there is the universal sperm, the secret of which they guarded, representing it only under the emblem of the caduceus of hermes. here then is the great hermetic arcanum, and we reveal

great work takes place by transmutation and multiplication. raymund lully states that in order to make gold we must have gold and mercury, while in order to make silver we must have silver and mercury. then he adds: gby mercury, i understand that mineral spirit which is so refined and purified that it gilds the seed of gold and silvers the seed of silver. h doubtless he is here speaking of od, or astral light. salt and sulphur are serviceable in the work only for the preparation of mercury: it is with mercury above all that the magnetic agent must be assimilated and as if incorporated. paracelsus, raymund lully and nicholas flamel seem alone to have understood this mystery perfectly. basil valentine and trevisan indicate it after an incomplete manner, which might be capa66 the ritual of tr

e have practised only the first, and advise no one to devote themselves to the second. it is certain that the images of the dead do appear to the magnetized persons who evoke them; it is certain also that they never reveal any mysteries of the life beyond. they are beheld as they still exist in the memories of those who knew them, and doubtless as their reflections have left them impressed on the astral light. when evoked spectres reply to questions addressed them, it is always by signs or by interior and imaginary impressions, never with a voice which really strikes the ears; and this is comprehensible enough, for how should a shadow speak? with what instrument could it cause the air to vibrate by impressing it in such a manner as to make distinct sounds? at the same time, electrical cont

with what instrument could it cause the air to vibrate by impressing it in such a manner as to make distinct sounds? at the same time, electrical contacts are experienced from apparitions and sometimes appear to be produced by the hand of a phantom; but the phenomena is wholly subjective, is occasioned solely by the power of imagination and the local wealth of that occult force which we term the astral light. the proof of this is that spirits, or at least the spectres pretended to be such, may indeed touch us occasionally, but we cannot touch them, and this is one of the most affrighting characteristics of these apparitions, which are at times so real in appearance that we cannot unmoved feel the hand pass through that which seems a body and yet make contact with nothing. we read in eccle

s a body and yet make contact with nothing. we read in ecclesiastical historians that spiridion, bishop of tremithonte, afterwards invoked as a saint, called up the spirit of his daughter, irene, to ascertain from her the whereabouts of some concealed money which she had taken in charge for a traveller. swedenborg communicated habitually with the so-called dead, whose forms appeared to him in the astral light. several credible persons necromancy 71 of our acquaintance have assured us that they have been revisited for years by the dead who were dear to them. the celebrated atheist sylvanus marechal appeared to his widow and one of her friends, to acquaint her concerning a sum of 1,500 francs which he had concealed in a secret drawer. this anecdote was related to us by an old friend of the f

kilful physician, and for this reason there is no appeal from his sentence when it has been once pronounced against a guilty person. there are no ceremonies and no invocations; he does but abstain from eating at the same table, or if forced to do so neither accepts nor offers salt. but the bewitchments of sorcerers are of another kind, and may be compared to an actual poisoning of some current of astral light. they exalt their will by ceremonies till it becomes venomous at distance; but, as we have observed 94 the ritual of transcendental magic in our gdoctrine h, they expose themselves more often to be the first that are killed by their infernal machinery. let us stigmatize at this point some of their guilty proceedings. they procure hair or garments of the person whom they seek to destro

ity, which it attracts and transmutes into its own nature, when it falls rapidly to earth, where it is drawn by a fixed nature similar to its own. these words, enigmatic in form but clear in essence, express openly what the philosophers understand by their mercury fructified by sulphur, which becomes the master and regenerator of salt. it is azoth, universal magnesia, the great magical agent, the astral light, the light of life, fertilized by animic force, by intellectual energy, which they compare to sulphur on account of its affinities with divine fire. as to salt, it is absolute matter. all that is material contains salt, and all salt can be converted into pure gold by the combined action of sulphur and mercury, which at times act with swiftness that transmutation can take place in an i

is true in this sense, as we have said, that all contain the fundamental salt, represented in our emblems by the cubic stone itself, as may be seen in the symbolic and universal frontispiece to the keys of basil valentine. to know how to extract from all matter the pure salt which is concealed in it is to possess the secret of the stone. it is therefore a saline stone, which the od, or universal astral light, decomposes or recomposes. it is one and many, for it can be dissolved and incorporated with other substances, like ordinary salt. obtained by analysis, it may be termed the universal sublimate; recovered by the synthetic way, it is the veritable panacea of the ancients, for it cures all diseases, whether of soul or body, and is termed in an eminent manner the medicine of all nature

tion should be performed transversely, or from below upward; the cold insufflation is more effective when directed downward from above. we breathe not only by means of mouth and nostrils; the universal porousness of our body is a true respiratory apparatus, inadequate undoubtedly but most useful to life and health. the extremities of the fingers, where all nerves terminate, diffuse or attract the astral light accordingly as we will. magnetic passes without contact are a simple and slight insufflation; contact adds sympathetic and equilibrating impression to breathing; it is good and even necessary, to prevent hallucinations at the early stages of somnambulism for it is a communion of physical reality which admonishes the brain and recalls wandering imagination; it must not, however, be too

SORCERIES OF ZOS

the year in which crowley received the book of the lawmakes him, literally, a child of the new aeon; one of the first! his creative genius adumbrates at every stage of its flight the flowering of the essential germ that has made him a living embodiment of new aeon consciousness, and of the 'kingly man' described in al. dali's objects are reflected in the fluid and eve-rshifting luminosity of the astral light. they resolve themselves and melt continually into the 'next step, the next phase of consciousness expanding into the further image of becoming. spare had already succeeded in isolating and concentrating desire in a symbol which became sentient and therefore potentially creative through the lightnings of the magnetized will. dali, it seems, has taken the process a step further. his fo

device on the part of initiates to veil the true process of distilling the mahakala. reich's discovery is significant because he was probably the first scientist to place psychology on a solid biological basic, ant the first to demonstrate under laboratory conditions the existence of a tangible magical energy at last measurable and therefore strictly scientific. whether this energy is termed the astral light (levi, the elan vital (bergson, the odic force (reichenbach, the libido (freud, reich was the first- with the possible exception of reichenbach- actually to isolate it and demonstrate its properties. austin spare suspected, as early as 1913, that some such energy was the basic factor in the re-activization of primal atavisms, and he treated it accordingly as cosmic energy (the 'atmosp

and all possible future forms. during the time that he was preoccupied with these themes spare dreamed repeatedly of fantastic buildings whose alignments he found quite impossible to note down on waking. he supposed them to be adumbrations of a future geometry of space-time bearing no known relation to present-day forms of architecture. eliphaz levi claimed a similar power of reification for the 'astral light, but he failed to show the precise manner of its manipulation. it was to this end that spare evolved his alphabet of desire 'each letter of which relates to a sex-principle( that is to say he noted certain correspondences between the inner movements of the sexual impulse and the outer form of its manifestation in symbols, sigils, or letters rendered sentient by being charged with its

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL 1

erships to establish a mystical union with the absolute. t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 50 afterlife mysteries akashic records some metaphysicians believe that they have the ability to perceive and to read the akashic records, eternal accountings of individual human life patterns which have been somehow impressed on the celestial ether or astral light that fills all of space. these records are said to detail each lifetime and are perpetuated like vast computer-like memory banks in the collective unconscious. certain psychic sensitives claim to enter altered states of consciousness, such as trance or meditation, and thereby achieve the ability to read the past lives of individuals who seek such knowledge. when these seers return to

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL

and negative, and the actions of unseen forces on matter. the hermit (arcanum nine) stands for every spiritual seeker in search of himself or herself. the hermit pursues the lonely path of the awakened soul in his search for truth, guided by his lantern and protected by his staff. in essence, this card represents the experience of self-initiation and signifies wisdom and silence. nine symbolizes astral light, the matrix of all visible forms of life. the wheel of fortune (arcanum ten) is the card of victory, the sign of obstacles overcome by good fortune and by the active participation of the individual in the activities of the microcosm. the wheel, or circle, is the symbol of completion, as every human is a closed system within himself or herself. a blind virgin cranked the wheel, as all

THE KEY TO THE MYSTERIES

produces splendour, it is called light. it is this substance which god creates before everything else, when he says "let there be light" it is at once substance and movement. it is fluid, and a perpetual vibration. its inherent force which set it is motion is called "magnetism" in the infinite, this unique substance is the ether, or the etheric light. in the stars which it magnetizes, it becomes astral light. in organized beings, light, or magnetic fluid. in man it forms the "astral body" or the "plastic medium" the will of intelligent beings acts directly on this light, and by means of it on all that part of nature which is submitted to the modifications of intelligence. this light is the common mirror of all thoughts and all forms; it preserves the images of everything that has been, th

me harder than the diamond, if one could equilibrate its constituent molecules<knowledge of thermodymanics> to direct the magnetic forces is then to destroy or create forms; to produce to all appearance, or to destroy bodies; it is to exercise the almighty power of nature. our plastic medium is a magnet which attracts or repels the astral light under the pressure of the will. it is a luminous body which reproduces with the greatest ease forms corresponding to ideas. it is the mirror of the imagination. this body is nourished by astral light just as the organic body is nourished by the products of the earth. during slumber, it absorbs the astral light by immersion, and during waking, by a kind of somewhat slow respiration. wh

nother person, whose will and whose acts are, in consequence, subordinated to that action. secondly, in acting through the will of another, either by intimidation, or by persuasion, so that the influenced will modifies at our pleasure the plastic medium and the acts of that person. one magnetizes by radiation, by contact, by look, or by word. the vibrations of the voice modify the movement of the astral light, and are a powerful vehicle of magnetism. the warm breath magnetizes positively, and the cold breath negatively. a warm and prolonged insufflation upon the spinal column at the base of the cerebellum may occasion erotic phenomena. if one puts the right hand upon the head and the left hand under the feet of a person completely enveloped with wool or silk, one causes the magnetic spark

k, one causes the magnetic spark to pass completely through the body, and one may thus occasion a nervous revolution in his organism with the rapidity of lightning. magnetic passes only serve to direct the will of the magnetizer in confirming it by acts. they are signs and nothing more. the act of the will is expressed and not operated by these signs. 116 powdered charcoal absorbs and retains the astral light. this explains the magic mirror of dupotet. figures traced in charcoal appear luminous to a magnetized person, and take, for him, following the direction indicated by the will of the magnetizer, the most gracious or the most terrifying forms. the astral light, or rather the vital light, of the plastic medium, absorbed by the charcoal, becomes wholly negative; for this reason animals w

a conductor, carbon removes unpleasant static electricity> one day, medicine will make use of this property, and nervous persons will find great relief from it. chapter ii live and death- sleep and waking sleep is an incomplete death; death is a complete sleep. nature subjects us to sleep in order to accustom us to the idea of death, and warns us by dreams of the persistence of another life. the astral light into which sleep plunges us is like an ocean in which innumerable images are afloat, flotsam of wrecked existences, mirages and reflections of those which pass, presentiments of those which are about to be. our nervous disposition attracts to us those images which correspond to our agitation, to the nature of our fatigue, just as a magnet, moved among particles of various metals, woul

ddenly strangled in his throat, a convulsion, a sigh, then nothing more. the practical joker gets up, pulls his comrade's arm, calls him; in his turn, he becomes frightened, he cries out, people come with lights. the unfortunate sleep-waker was dead. 126 chapter iii mysteries of hallucinations and of the evocation of spirits an hallucination is an illusion produced by an irregular movement of the astral light. it is, as we said previously, the admixture of the phenomena of sleep with those of waking. our plastic medium breathes in and out the astral light or vital soul of the earth, as our body breathes in and out the terrestrial atmosphere. now, just as in certain places the air is impure and not fit for breathing, in the same way, certain unusual circumstances may make the astral light u

at the base of hebrew itself, and of all the oriental languages which derive from it; this language is that of the sanctuary, and the columns at the entrance of the temples ordinarily contained all its symbols. the intuition of the ecstatics comes nearer to the truth with regard to these primitive signs that even the science of the learned, because, as we have said, the universal vital fluid, the astral light, being the mediating principle between the ideas and the forms, is obedient to the extraordinary leaps of the soul which seeks the unknown, and furnishes it naturally with the signs already found, but forgotten, of the great revelations of occultism. thus are formed the pretended signatures of spirits, thus were produced the mysterious writings of gablidone, who appeared to dr. lavate

eath; 7 degree- lastly, by demonstrating (if need be, by examples) the reality of the philosophical stone, and the transmutation of metals, according to the secrets of abraham the jew, of flamel, and of raymond lully. all these prodigies are accomplished by means of a single agent which the hebrew calls od, as did the chevalier de reichenback, which we, with the school of pasqualis martinez, call astral light, which mr. de mirville calls the devil, and which the ancient alchemists called azoth. it is the vital element which manifests itself by the phenomena of heat, light, electricity and magnetism, which magnetizes all terrestrial globes, and all living beings. in this agent even are manifested the proofs of the qabalistic doctrine with regard to equilibrium and motion, by double polarity

nts, receives and transmits the imprints of the force of imagination which is in men the image and the semblance of the creative word, and thus produces presentiments and determines dreams. the science of miracles is then the knowledge of this marvellous force, and the art of doing miracles is simply the art of magnetizing or "illuminating" beings, according to the invariable laws of magnetism or astral light. we prefer the word "light" to the word "magnetism" because it is more traditional in occultism, and expresses in a more complete and perfect manner the nature of the secret agent. there is, in truth, the liquid and drinkable gold of the masters in alchemy; the word "or (the french word for "gold) comes from the hebrew "aour" which signifies "light "what do you wish" they asked the ca

stasy, and in sleep. in sleep, in fact, reason does not act, and logic, when it mingles in our dreams, only does so by chance, in accordance with the accidents of purely physical reminiscences. in dreams, we have the consciousness of the universal life; we mingle ourselves with water, fire, air, and earth; we fly like birds; we climb like squirrels; we crawl like serpents; we are intoxicated with astral light; we plunge into the common reservoir, as happens in a more complete manner in death; but then (and it is thus that paracelsus explains the mysteries of the other life) the wicked, that is to say, those who have allowed themselves to be dominated by the instinct of the brute to the prejudice of human reason, are drowned in the ocean of the common life with all the anguish of eternal de

xplains sympathetic currents either near or distant, and gives the whole secret of occult medicine, because the principle of this medicine is the grand hypothesis of universal analogies, and, attributing all the phenomena of physical life to the universal agent, teaches that one must act upon the astral body in order to react upon the material visible body; it teaches also that the essence of the astral light is a double movement of attraction and repulsion; just as human bodies attract and repel one another, they can also absorb themselves, extend one into another, and make exchanges; the ideas or imaginations of one can influence the form of the other, and subsequently react upon the exterior body. thus are produced the so strange phenomena of maternal impressions, thus the neighbourhood

figures" this text, one sees, is still perfectly obscure for whoever is not acquainted with the characteristic value of each of the thirty-two paths. the thirty-two paths are the ten numbers and the twenty-two hieroglyphic letters of the qabalah. the thirty-first refers to hb:shin, which represents the magic lamp, or the light between the horns of baphomet. it is the qabalistic sign of the od, or astral light, with its two poles, and its balanced centre. one knows that in the language of the alchemist the sun signifies gold, the moon silver, and that the other stars or planets refer to the other metals. one 217 should now be able to understand the thought of the jew abraham. the secret fire of the masters of alchemy was, then, electricity; and there is the better half of their grand arcanu

ow to equilibrate its force by a magnetic influence which they concentrated in their athanor. this is what results from the obscure dogmas of basil valentine, of bernard trevisan, and of henry khunrath, who, all of them, pretended to have worked the transmutation, like raymond lully, like arnaud de villeneuve, and like nicholas flamel. the universal light, when it magnetizes the worlds, is called astral light; when it forms the metals, one calls it azoth, or philosophical mercury; when it gives life to animals, it should be called animal magnetism. the brute is subject to the fatalities of this light; man is able to direct it. it is the intelligence which, by adapting the sign to the thought, creates forms and images. the universal light is like the divine imagination, and this world, whic

call the devil. 222 the devil is the giddiness of the intelligence stupefied by the irresolution of the heart. it is a monomania of nothingness, the lure of the abyss; independently of what it may be according to the decisions of the catholic, apostolic, and roman faith, which we have not the temerity to touch. as to the reproduction of signs and characters by that universal fluid, which we call astral light, to deny its possibility would be to take little account of the most ordinary phenomena of nature. the mirage in the steppes of russia, the palace of morgan le fay, the figures printed naturally in the heart of stones which gaffael calls "gamahes" the monstrous deformities of certain children caused by impressions of the nightmares of their mothers, all these phenomena and many others

host? no, 227 doubtless; this blood did once circulate in veins, then it has been shed, evaporated, dried, the serum has turned into vapour, the globules into impalpable dust, the whole has floated and whirled into the atmosphere, and has then been attracted into the current of a specified electromagnetism. the serum has again become liquid; it has taken up and imbibed anew the globules which the astral light has coloured, and the blood flows. photography proves to us sufficiently that images are real modifications of light. now, there exists an accidental and fortuitous photography which makes durable impression of mirages wandering in the atmosphere, upon leaves of trees, in wood, and even in the heart of stones: thus are formed those natural figures to which gaffarel has consecrated sev

he sea; the rear ranks push the front ranks frantically: they think they see the pretended mosses walk upon the water. a shocking disaster resulted: almost all that multitude was drowned, and the hallucination was only extinguished with the life of the greater number of those unhappy visionaries. human thought creates what it imagines; the phantoms of superstition project their deformities on the astral light, and live upon the same terrors which give them birth. that black giant which reaches its wings from east to west to hide the light from the world, that monster who devours souls, that frightful divinity of ignorance and fear- in a word, the devil- is still, for a great multitude of children of all ages, a frightful reality. in our "dogme et rituel de la haute magie" we represented hi

to lead us we shall go. they are our bad angels. we know it in the depths of our consciousness; but we put up with them, we have made ourselves their servants that they also may be ours. our passions treated tenderly and flattered, have become slavemistresses; and those who serve our passions our valets, and our masters. we breathe out our thoughts and breathe in those of others imprinted in the astral light which has become their electro-magnetic atmosphere: and thus the companionship of the wicked is less fatal to the good than that of vulgar, cowardly, and tepid beings. strong antipathy warns us easily, and saves us from the contact of gross vices; it is not thus with disguised vices vices to a certain extend diluted 249 and become almost lovable. an honest woman will experience nothin

s a fierce light on all the phenomena of somnambulism and of divination. there also, for whoever knows how to find it, is the true key of evocation, and of communication with the fluidic soul of the earth. those persons whose dangerous influence makes itself felt by a single touch are those who make part of a fluidic association, or who either voluntarily or involuntarily make use of a current of astral light which has gone astray. those, 251 for example, who live in isolation, deprived of all communication with humanity, and who are daily in fluidic sympathy with animals gathered together in great number, as is ordinarily the case with shepherds, are possessed of the demon whose name is "legion" in their turn they reign despotically over the fluid souls of the flocks that are confided to

THE MIDDLE PILLAR

to bypass all verbal or intellectual defense mechanisms, to reconnect the exterior ego with the interior reality, and release that material wl-uch was being repressed. in 1936 reich began a series of experiments that resulted in l-us theory of orgone energy. this was a type of life force energy that reich thought was vital to good health and which permeated all life. some have compared it to the "astral light" of ceremonial magicians. reich thought that muscular tension blocked the free flow of orgone energy in human beings-and that his vegetotherapy liberated the flow of orgone. his research got him into trouble, both in nazi germany and later in the u.s. where he built a machine that was said to extract orgone from the atmosphere and project it into the human body. nevertheless, the theo

TYSON DONALD SOUL FLIGHT

these spirits by apports, the actual teachings of the mahatmas written on the letters may have been psychically received. theosophy involves numerous sevenfold divisions of humanity, the universe, and its spiritual creatures, most of which do not concern us. we are interested in those that pertain to the astral world and its inhabitants. the astral world, which theosophists preferred to call the astral light, is divided by them into seven levels or degrees. they are not to be thought of as one above the other, or even as concentric shells like the layers of an onion, but rather as different rates of vibration that interpenetrate and exist simultaneously in the same place. according to theosophical doctrine, they are all physical but possess graduated degrees of density-from the most gross

s revealed by an intelligent interpretation of the aura. the akashic records theosophists also believe in the existence of what is known as the akashic records-a perfect and complete impression of every event that has occurred in the universe. leadbeater likened it to the memory of god.lo6 the akashic records are not, strictly speaking, an astral phenomenon at all, but are merely reflected in the astral light from the higher spiritual level where they have their true existence. because they are only a reflection, when seen on the astral levels they are imperfect, and those who attempt to read the akashic records during astral projection invariably make mistakes. oliver fox in view of the almost perfect understanding theosophists claimed to have of the astral planes, the astral body, and as

t is termed traveling in the spirit vision: the symbol, place, direction, or plane being known whereon it is desired to act, a thought-ray as before is sent unto the corresponding part of the sphere of sensation of the nephesch. the thought-ray is sent like an arrow from the bow, right through the circumference of the sphere of sensation directly unto the place desired. arrived there, a sphere of astral light is formed by the agency of the lower will, illuminated 136. howe, xviii. by the higher will, and acting through the spiritual consciousness by reflection along the thought-ray. this sphere of astral light is partly drawn from the surrounding atmosphere. this sphere being formed, a simulacrum of the person of the skryer is reflected into it along the thought-ray, and this united consci

TYSON DONALD THE MAGICAL WORKBOOK

e sensation is similar to the static-electric attraction you experience when you rub the surface of a balloon with a silk scarf. imagine all the tiny hairs on your skin stirring. this tingling on your skin is your aura. with your astral perception see and feel it all around you like a softly glowing second skin that lies within several inches of your physical skin. it is sustained by tiny jets of astral light that stream outward through your pores. imagine a bright blue-white star blazing in the heavens directly above the top of your skull, but far away in the distant darkness of space. raise your point of awareness to the star and enter it. for a minute or so, feel the star all around you, enveloping you within its intense electric whiteness. deliberately extend a ray of the star's blue-w

s tiny threads into your body through the pores of your skin. hold your breath with your lungs comfortably filled with air for the same four silent beats, and visualize the light that now fills your entire body circulating along every vein and nerve channel. invoking the light 201 exhale for four silent beats, and visualize the air flowing from your nostrils to be silver-gray in color. all of its astral light has been absorbed and retained within your body. hold your breath with your lungs comfortably empty of air for four beats, and visualize the light that circulates throughout your body concentrate itself in the golden-white sphere of your heart-center. repeat this cycle of the fourfold breath four times. as you perform the breath, visualize the inverted vortex above the candle graduall

m of countless tiny particles into your body through the pores of your skin. hold your breath with your lungs comfortably filled with air for the same four silent beats, and visualize the light that now fills your entire body circulating along every vein and nerve channel. exhale for four silent beats, and visualize the air flowing from your nostrils to be a dull silvery-gray in color. all of its astral light has been absorbed and retained within your body. hold your breath with your lungs comfortably empty of air for four beats, and visualize the light that is circulating throughout your body concentrate itself in the golden-white sphere of your heart-center. repeat this cycle of the fourfold breath four times. as you perform the breath, visualize the inverted vortex above the candle grad

WESTERN MANDALAS OF TRANSFORMATION SR AL

exceeds the scope of this book. we will simply quote regardie, who has found a happy synthesis between the two (by) employing such herbs, incenses, colors, seals, lights, forms, and divine names as are consonant and congruous to the traditional nature of mercury, the magician is thus the more easily enabled to stimulate the creativity of the imagination, and evoke either from his own mind or the astral light, the idea or spirit pertaining to that grade or hierarchy called mercury (1972, p. 207. all of these various correspondences (and the other planets as well) will be found in the charts in this and following chapters. the incenses which are connected to the planetary energies are a vital part of the magical art of talisman-making (see the chart in figure 3-b. they can be burned both in

ointed star or eight-spoked wheel is a symbol of christ, as well as mercury. on the tree, it is attributed to hod, or the sphere of splendor. its mercurial connections imply knowledge and truth-seeking, especially in magical work. it symbolizes concrete form wherein the force of netzach finds expression. as a duplication of four, it also represents alteration and vibration. levi relates it to the astral light, or magical agent wherein all vibrations exist. it also symbolizes culture, education, and evolution. 9. nine represents fullness or completion. the numbers find their fullest expression in nine; after that, they start repeating and rearranging themselves. it is the number of divine reflection and on the tree is represented by yesod, the foundation. yesod is often considered to be the

at does not still have these mistakes. the aware student can easily find this or any other error by adding up the numbers of each row. we find the same problem in the moon kamea of agrippa, and in numerous reprints of magical squares from other sources as well. regardie has commented on the dangers of this: it is not difficult to realize that if the object of the seal is to set up a strain in the astral light to which a corresponding entity hastens to respond, then a mistake in the textual inscription will cause a similar mistake in the type of astral strain. the result will be that the effect will be far different to that anticipated, even detrimental and dangerous tree of life, 1972, p. 219. i advise that you check the kamea you are copying at least twice, and be especially careful if do

f the microcosm with the macrocosm. according to the principle of analogy, whatever is in the godhead is reflected in the human being. the three principles of intelligence, love, and creativity find expression in the body through the three centers of the brain, the heart, and the sexual chakra, or seat of kundalini. as the "world is magnetized by the light of the sun [so] we are magnetized by the astral light (levi, 1972, p. 72. the function of mediation expressed in tiphareth is reflected through gematria by the association, agab (agb "by means of, or through" which has a value of six. this is the great harmonizing sphere of the christ principle through which we are made aware of our own divine nature. the word light appears six times in john's prologue to describe this perfected nature o

ult philosophy tells us that subconscious memory is already perfect. we cannot improve it; we can only improve our ability to tap into its power. in tarot, this occult power is represented by the high priestess (see figure 11-a, who holds the etheric record of all experience on her lap, often called etheric water or occult water. this is because in yesod are manifested the fluidic energies of the astral light, often perceived as wave-like. occultists know that this astral light is often associated in folklore with magic and sorcery. in gematria, we note the association in the word ob (avb, which has a double meaning. it can be translated as necromancer or sorcerer, figure 11-a as well as skin bag.i. e, implying pregnancy. what this points to is that all the illusory forms of nature which b

imagery is formed and serves as the source of all astral visions, whether of ghosts or the gods. all are filtered through yesod. levi explains how visions operate: all forms correspond to ideas and there is no idea which has not its proper and peculiar form. the primordial light which is the vehicle of all ideas is the mother of all forms, and transmits them from emanation to emanation. hence the astral light, or terrestrial fluid, which we call the great magnetic agent is saturated with all kinds of images or reflections. now our soul can evoke these and subject them to diaphane (transcendental magic, p. 66. diaphanous literally means translucid and by it levi refers to the plastic mediator, which is the magnet that attracts particular visions from the astral light that correspond to the

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