Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
*THE ASPIRANT

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ABRAMELIN2

icrucian teaching, which is very different to that of the outer and uninitiated world. 27 this is the great point to be studied in all magical operations soever, and unless the whole heart and soul and faith go with the ceremony, there can be no reliable result produced. 28 the title of the eleventh chapter of the second book is: concerning the selection of the place. 29 meaning in the case where the aspirant unto the sacred magic is a servant actually then serving a master. 30 the object of most of these instructions is of course to keep the astral sphere of the aspirant free from evil influences, and accustom him to pure and holy thoughts and to the exercise of will power and self-control. the student of the indian tatwas will know the value of active meditation at sunrise because that m

ADEPTUS MINOR INITIATION

gn. first point (chief is not seen, the second adept becomes leading officer. third adept is present and the hodos chamelionis is introduced) second "very honored fraters et sorors, our h. frater/soror, lord/lady of the 24th, 25th and 26th paths of the portal of the vault of the adepti, is a candidate for admission to the second order and is waiting without. v.h. frater hodos chamelionis, prepare the aspirant and act as an introducer. associate adeptus minor, guard the hither side of the portal and admit them in due form (carries his grade sash along with the recommendation from the chief of the order, the lamen of the hiereus, and a separate prepared speech) third (opens door "who bringest thou here with thee" 9 aspirant (loudly and firmly gives speech "hear ye all that i, the honored fra

ritten that he who exalteth himself shall be abased, but that he who humbleth himself shall be exalted. blessed be the poor in m for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. it is not by proclamation of honors and dignities, great though they may be, that thou canst gain admission to the tomb of the adepti of the rose of ruby and the cross of gold, but only by that humility and purity of m that befitteth the aspirant unto higher things. associate adeptus minor, bring unto me the recommendation and attestation which he beareth, and test thou his knowledge ere he be rejected for the sins of presumption and spiritual pride" third "thou knowest the arrangement of the ten sephiroth on the tree of life; now what symbolic weapon doth their natural succession form (aspirant answers unprompted) third "and

f life) third "by the aid of what symbol do ye seek admission" hodos (shows diagram "by the aid of the flaming sword, and the serpent of wisdom" second "whom bringest thou there" hodos "mighty adeptus major, i bring with me one who has passed the trials of humiliation, and has symbolically chosen to return to the womb. he humbly desireth admission to the tomb of the mystical mountain" second "let the aspirant be assisted to kneel (aspirant is brought to the door of the tomb between the third adept and hodos. all face east and kneel) second "from thine hand oh lord, cometh all good. the characters of nature with thy fingers thou hast traced, but none can read them unless he hath been taught in thy school. therefore, even as servants look unto the hands of their masters and handmaidens unto

erse, unto whom there is none like and whose dwelling is in heaven, and in every virtuous and god-fearing heart "o god the vast one, thou art in all things. o nature, thou self from nothing, for what else can i call thee? in myself i am nothing. in thee i am self, and exist in thy self-hood from nothing. live thou in me, and bring me unto that self which is in thee. amen" second "let the hands of the aspirant be unbound (this is done, aspirant remains kneeling, and officers rise) third "think not, o aspirant, that the trial of humility through which thou hast passed was ordained but to jest with thy feelings. far from us be any such design, but it was intended to point out to thee that the truly wise man is but little in his own eyes, however great his attainments may appear to the ignoran

bound behind thy back, and rejoice not at his fall. and, in thine intercourse with the members of our order, let thy hand given unto another be a sincere and genuine pledge of fraternity. respect his or her secrets and feelings as thou wouldst respect thine own 'bear with one another and forgive one another' even as the master hath said. v.h. frater hodos chamelionis, what is the symbolic age of the aspirant" hodos "his days are an hundred and twenty years" second "it is written 'my spirit shall not always strive with man, seeing that he also is flesh, yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years' associate adeptus minor, unto what do those 120 years of the aspirant's symbolic age correspond" third "to the five grades of the first order through which it is necessary for the aspirant

is nothing contained therein contrary to thy civil, moral, or religious duties. art thou willing to take such a pledge" aspirant "i am (hodos pulls up aspirant's robe over the head) second "are you willing to receive the stripes upon your back as a symbol of your willingness to martyr your flesh in the protection of this order (aspirant answers) hodos (removes the robe. using the whip, he lashes the aspirant 10 times which is symbolic of the 10 sephiroth) second adept: let the aspirant be bound to the cross of suffering (aspirant is lead to the cross of obligation, and his hands and feet are placed through the nooses and cords, two adepts support him while on the cross. third adept prepares to hand cup and dagger to second adept who is standing in front of cross facing the aspirant (secon

ALEISTER CROWLEY EIGHT LECTURES ON YOGA

rimination, incapable of choice. the niyama corresponding to her influence, the first of all, is that quality of aspiration, the positive purity which refuses union with anything less than the all. in greek mythology artemis, the goddess of the moon, is virgin; she yielded only to pan. here is one particular lesson: as the yogi advances, magic powers (siddhi the teachers call them) are offered to the aspirant; if he accepts the least of these- or the greatest- he is lost. 15. at the other end of the scale of the niyama of the moon are the fantastic developments of sensibility which harass the yogi. these are all help and encouragement; these are all intolerable hindrances; these are the greatest of the obstacles which confront the human being, trained as he is by centuries of evolution to

wer is profound. it is because nothing at all is known about him. anyhow it hardly matters; we have surely had enough of niyama for one evening! 19. it is now proper to sum up briefly what we have learnt about yama and niyama. they are in a sense the moral, logical preliminaries of the technique of yoga proper. they are the strategical as opposed to the tactical dispositions which must be made by the aspirant before he attempts anything more serious than the five finger exercises, as we may call them- the recruit's drill of postures, breathing exercises and concentration which the shallow confidently suppose to constitute this great science and art. we have seen that it is presumptuous and impractical to lay down definite rules as to what we are to do. what does concern us is so to arrange

. it is not really satisfactory to start serious yoga unless you are in a country where the climate is reliable, and where the air is not polluted by the stench of civilisation. it is extremely important, above all things important, unless one is an exceedingly rich man, to find a country where the inhabitants understand the yogin mode of life, where they are sympathetic with its practices, treat the aspirant with respect, and unobtrusively assist and protect him. in such circumstances, the exigency of yama and niyama is not so serious a stress. there is, too, something beyond all these practical details which it is hard to emphasise without making just those mysterious assumptions which we have from the first resolved to avoid. all i can say is that i am very sorry, but this particular fa

caesar's before rendering to god the things which are god's. woe to that seven months' abortion who thinks to take advantage of the accidents of birth, and, mocking the call of duty, sneaks off to stare at a blank wall in china! yama and niyama are only the more critical stages of yoga because they cannot be translated in terms of a schoolboy curriculum. nor can schoolboy tricks adequately excuse the aspirant from the duties of manhood. do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. rejoice, true men, that this is thus! for this at least may be said, that there are results to be obtained in this way which will not only fit the aspirant for the actual battle, but will introduce him to classes of hitherto unguessed phenomena whose impact will prepare his mind for that terific shock of its

you to find out which are good and which are bad, the why and the what and all the other questions. it all comes to the same thing in the end. there is only one way to still the body in the long run, and that is to keep it still. it's dogged as does it. 18. the irritations develop into extreme agony. any attempt to alleviate this simply destroys the value of the practice. i must particularly warn the aspirant against rationalising (i *have* known people who were so hopelessly bat-witted that they rationalised. they thought 'ah, well, this position is not suitable for me, as i thought it was. i have made a mess of the ibis position; now i'll have a go at the dragon position' but the ibis has kept his job, and attained his divinity, by standing on one leg throughout the centuries. if you go

ALEISTER CROWLEY BOOK OF LIES

one with the mother of the child.(4) the many is as adorable to the one as the one is to the many. this is the love of these; creationparturition is the bliss of the one; coitiondissolution is the bliss of the many. the all, thus interwoven of these, is bliss. naught is beyond bliss. the man delights in uniting with the woman; the woman in parting from the child. the brothers of a'.a. are women: the aspirants to a'.a. are men. book of lies get any book for free on: www.abika.com 15 [16] commentary( gamma) gimel is the high priestess of the tarot. this chapter gives the initiated feminine point of view; it is therefore called the oyster, a symbol of the yoni. in equinox x, the temple of solomon the king, it is explained how masters of the temple, or brothers of a'.a. have changed the formu

illumination of ain as ain soph aour; step 2, the concentration of ain soph aour in kether; step 3, duality and the rest of it down to malkuth; step 4, the stooping of malkuth to the qliphoth, and the consequent ruin of the tree of life. part 2 show the impossibility of stopping on the path of adeptship. the final couplet represents the first step upon the path, which must be taken even although the aspirant is intellectually aware of the severity of the whole course. you must give up the world for love, the material for the moral idea, before that, in its turn, is surrendered to the spiritual. and so on. this is a laylah-chapter, but in it laylah figures as the mere woman. book of lies get any book for free on: www.abika.com 156 [159] 75 kappa-epsilon-phi-alpha-lambda-eta omicron-epsilon

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

's self from one's environment. even in magick we cannot get on without the help of others<magician must know every detail of his work, and be able and willing to roll up his shirtsleeves and do it, no matter how trivial or menial it may seem. abramelin (it is true) forbids the aspirant to perform any tasks of an humiliating type; but he will never be able to command perfect service unless he has experience of such necessary work, mastered during his early training> there was, however, a further object in this recommendation. the more trouble and difficulty your weapon costs, the more useful you will find it "if you want a thing well done, do it yourself" it would be

pernatural vengeance is genuine; it proceeds from a section of themselves which is in irreconcilable conflict with their rascality. neither side can conciliate, suppress, or ignore the other; yet each is so craven as to endure its enemy's presence. such men are therefore without pure principles; they excuse themselves for every dirty trick that turns to their apparent advantage. the first step of the aspirant toward the gate of initiation tells him that purity- unity of purpose- is essential above all else "do what thou wilt" strikes on him, a ray of fierce white flame consuming all that is not utterly god. very soon he is aware that he cannot consciously contradict himself. he develops a subtle sense which warns him that two trains of thought which he had never conceived as connected are

ake bricks without straw. with regard to invocations of the gods, such considerations do not apply. the gods are beyond most material conditions. it is necessary to fill the "heart" and "mind" with the proper basis for manifestation. the higher the nature of the god, the more true this is. the holy guardian angel has always the necessary basis. his manifestation depends solely on the readiness of the aspirant, and all magical ceremonies used in that invocation are merely intended to prepare that aspirant; not in any way to attract or influence him. it is his constant and eternal will<knowledge and conversation is not universal, it seems at first as if an omnipotent will were being baulked. but his will and your will together make up that one will, because you and he are one. th

is therefore divided against itself, so long as your will fails to aspire steadfastly. also, his will cannot constrain yours. he is so much one with you that even your will to separate is his will. he is so certain of you that he delights in your perturbation and coquetry no less than in your surrender. these relations are fully explained in liber lxv. see also liber aleph cxi> to become one with the aspirant, and the moment the conditions of the latter make it possible, that bridal is consummated. iii the obstinacy of a spirit (or the inertial of a talisman) usually implies a defect in invocation. the spirit cannot resist even for a moment the constraint of his intelligence, when that intelligence is working in accordance with the will of the angel, archangel 134 and god above him. it is

t awkward for the diviner who is also a magician, for as a magician he has been constantly at work to keep all his forces under his own control, and to prevent the slightest interference with them by any alien will. it is, in fact, commonly the case, or so says the experience of the master therion, that the most promising magicians are the most deplorable diviners, and vice versa. it is only when the aspirant approaches perfection that he becomes able to reconcile these two apparently opposing faculties. indeed, there is no surer sign of all-round success than this ability to put the whole of one's powers at the service of any type of task. with regard to the mind, again, it would seem that concentration on the question makes more difficult the necessary detachment from it. once again, the

ssibly do. for even the most marital man is limited as to madim by the fact that mars is only one element in his molecule; the other elements both inhibit concentration on their colleague, and veil him by insisting on his being interpreted in reference to themselves. no entity whose structure does not include the entire tree of life is capable of the formulae of initiation. graphiel, consulted by the aspirants to adeptship, would be bound to regard the great work as purely a question of combat, and ignore all other considerations. his advice would be absolute on technical points of this kind; but its very perfection would persuade the aspirant to an unbalance course of action which would entail failure and destruction. it is pertinent to mention in this connection that one must not expect

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS

my inherited money on this work: and if i had a thousand times that amount today it would all go in the same direction. it is only when one is built in this way, to stand entirely aloof from all considerations of twopence halfpenny more or fourpence halfpenny less, that one obtains perfect freedom on this plane of discs. all the serious orders of the world, or nearly all, begin by insisting that the aspirant should take a vow of poverty; a buddhist bhikku, for example, can own only nine objects- his three robes, begging bowl, a fan, toothbrush, and so on. the hindu and mohammedan orders have similar regulations; and so do all the important orders of monkhood in christianity. our own order is the only exception of importance; and the reason for this is that it is much more difficult to ret

lowbrow; but i refuse to be ashamed for finding kipling's if and henley's don't remember-the title; they may not be poetry- but they are honest food and damned good beer for the plebeian wayfarer. it was such manhood, not the left-wing high-brow bloomsbury sissies, that kept london through the blitz. pray forgive the digression) there is only one method to adopt in such circumstances as those of the aspirant to magick and yoga: the method of science. trial and error. you must observe. that implies, first of all, that you must learn to observe. and you must record your observations. no circumstance of life is, or can be irrelevant "he that is not with me is against me" in all these letters you will find only two things: either i tell you what is bad for you, or what is good for you. but i

cts; to try to explain them away, or to excuse them, is certain to involve one in a maelstrom of sophistry; and when, despite these laudable efforts, the facts jump up and land a short jab to the point, one is even worse off than before. this has to be said, because sammasati is assuredly one of the most useful, as well as one of the most trustworthy and most manageable, weapons in the armoury of the aspirant. you stop me, obviously with a demand for a personal explanation "how is it" you write "that you reject with such immitigable scorn the very foundation-stones of buddhism, and yet refer disciples enthusiastically to the technique of some of its subtlest superstructures" i laff. magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 188 it is the old, old story. when the buddha wa

angle (b) i am carried away by the exultant exaltation of my theme: i boil over with rapture- not the crystalclear, the cool solution that i aimed at. on the path of the wise there is probably no danger more deadly, no poison more pernicious, no seduction more subtle than spiritual pride; magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 223 it strikes, being solar, at the very heart of the aspirant; more, it is an inflation and exacerbation of the ego, so that its victim runs the peril of straying into a black lodge, and finding himself at home there. against this risk we look to our insurance; there are two infallible: common sense and the sense of humour. when you are lying exhausted and exenterate after the attainment of vishvarupadarshana it is all wrong to think "well, now

any book for free on: www.abika.com 240 (i do wish that we had the sense to take our ideas of peace conditions from the bible, as our rulers so loudly profess that they do. the enemy knows well enough that there is no other way to make a war pay) now then, i hope that we have succeeded in clarifying this exceptionally muddy marish water of morality from most of its alien and toxic dirt; too often the aspirant to the sacred wisdom finds no firm path under his feet; the bog of respectability mires him who sought the garden of delights; soon the last bubbles burst from his choked lungs; he is engulfed in the slough of despond. in the passive elements of earth and water is no creative virtue to cleanse themselves from such impurity as they chance to acquire; it is therefore of cardinal importa

lling, or any small sum) and then going on with her previous remarks. she told me that of over a hundred people i was the second who had passed the coin to her without remark of any kind. this story- do you think- is neither here no there. no, my remarks are rarely asyntartete. the masters, at one stage or another of initiation- it is forbidden to indicate the conditions- arrange for some test of the aspirant's attitude in some matter, not necessarily involving cash. if he fails, goodnight! magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 271 swords, now. the snags connected with this type of test are probably the nastiest of any. misunderstanding, confusion, logical error (and, worse, logical precision of the kind that distinguishes many lunatics, dispersion, indecision, failur

ALEISTER CROWLEY MEDITATION

s all our lives- unless they were awakened by our magick. they lie in ambush. and every one must be awakened, and every one must be destroyed. every one who signs the oath of a probationer is stirring up a hornets' nest. a man has only to affirm his conscious aspiration; and the enemy is upon him. it seems hardly possible that any one can ever pass through that terrible year of probation- and yet the aspirant is not bound to anything difficult; it almost seems as if he were not bound to anything at all- and yet experience teaches us that the effect is like plucking a man from his fireside into mid-atlantic in a gale. the truth is, it may be, that the very simplicity of the task makes it difficult. the probationer must cling to his aspiration- affirm it again and again in desperation. he ha

ALEISTER CROWLEY TAO TEH KING

le serious aspirants to the hidden wisdom to understand with fair accuracy what lao tze taught. it must however be laid to 10 heart that the essence of his system will inevitably elude intellectual apprehension unless it be illuminated from above by actual living experience of the truth. such experience is only to be attained by unswerving application to the practices which he advocates. nor must the aspirant content himself with the mere attainment of spiritual enlightenment, however sublime. all such achievements are barren unless they be regarded as the means rather than the end of spiritual progress, and allowed to infiltrate every detail of the life, not only of the spirit, but of the senses. the tao can never be known until it interpret the most trivial actions of everyday routine. i

ath of hiram at high noon, etc. etc) 7. so then the tao-man holdeth to mass, and avoideth motion; he is attached to the root, not to the flower. he leaveth the one, and cleaveth to the other((that is, if his road be towards the tao. in our language, he adores nuit; but the perfect man, when he needs to manifest, is on the opposite curve. cf. the 'book of lies 'the brothers of the a. a. are women; the aspirants to a. a. are men) 44 chapter xxxix the law of the beginning. 1. these things have possessed the tao from the beginning: heaven, clear and shining; earth, steady and easy; spirits, mighty in magick; vehicles('spirits' and 'vehicles' refer to the lance and cup, correlatives of heaven and earth) overflowing with joy; all that hath life; and the rulers of men. all these derive their esse

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE OLD AND NEW COMMENTARIES TO LIBER AL

re one with the mother of the child. the many is as adorable to the one as the one is to the many. this is the love of these: creation-parturition is the bliss of the one; coition-dissolution is the bliss of the many. the all, thus interwoven of these, is bliss. naught is beyond bliss. the man delights in uniting with the woman; the woman in parting from the child the brothers of a'.a. are women; the aspirants to a'.a. are men" in order to have motion one must have change. in fact, one must have this in order to have anything at all. now this change is what we call love. thus "love under will" is the law of motion. the re-entrant character of this motion is difficult to conceive; but the aspirant is urged to try to assimilate the idea. a hindu might compare the cosmic process to a churn wh

standard of right, cut it out. the curse of society has been procrustean morality, the ethics of the herd-men. one would have thought that a mere glance at nature would have sufficed to disclose her scheme of individuality made possible by order. al i,43 "do that, and no other shall say nay" the old comment 43. no other shall say nay may mean- no-other (nuit) shall pronounce the word no, uniting the aspirant with herself by denying and so destroying that which he is. the new comment the general meaning of this verse is that so great is the power of asserting one's right that it will not long be disputed. for by doing so one appeals to the law. in practice it is found that people who are ready to fight for their rights are respected, and let alone. the slave-spirit invites oppression. al i

one cannot say that any significance of that gesture is forbidden, for "there is no law beyond do what thou wilt" but this may and shall be said, that a significance with indicates ignorance or forgetfulness of the central truth of the universe, is an acquiescence in that opacity caused by the confusion of the veils which conceal the soul from the consciousness, and thus create the illusion which the aspirant calls sorrow, and the uninitiate, evil. the sexual act, even to the grossest of mankind, is the agent which dissipates the fog of self for one ecstatic moment. it is the instinctive feeling that the physical spasm is symbolic of that miracle of the mass, by which the material wafer, composed of the passive elements, earth and water, is transmuted into the substance of the body of god

9. we are exhorted to offer ourselves unto nuit, pilgrims to all her temples. it is bad magick to admit that one is other than one's inmost self. one should plunge passionately into every possible experience; by doing so one is purged of those personal prejudices which we took so stupidly for ourselves, though they prevented us from realizing our true wills and from knowing our names and natures. the aspirant must well understand that it is no paradox to say that the annihilation of the ego in the abyss is the condition of emancipating the true self, and exalting it to unimaginable heights. so long as one remains "one's self" one is overwhelmed by the universe; destroy the sense of self, and every event is equally an expression of one's will, since its occurrence is the resultant of the co

ersonal predilections are evidence of imperfect vision. but it is even worse to deny reality to such facts as refuse to humour them. in the charter of spiritual sovereignty it is written that the charcoal-burner is no less a subject than the duke. the structure of the state includes all elements; it were stupid and suicidal to aim at homogeneity, or to assert it. spiritual experience soon enables the aspirant to assimilate these ideas, and he can enjoy life to the full, finding his true self alike in the contemplation of every element of existence. al ii,23 "i am alone: there is no god where i am" the old comment 23. the atheism of god "allah's the atheist! he owns no allah" to admit god is to look up to god, and so not to be god. the cures of duality. the new comment this refers to the sp

ts, many of which affront the law of self-preservation itself, with suicidal stupidity. the moral idea which we call "the people" is the natural enemy of good government. he who is 'chosen' by hadit to kingship must consequently be 'against the people' if he is to pursue any consistent policy. the massed maggots of 'love' devoured mark antony as they did abelard. for this reason the first task of the aspirant is to disarm all his thoughts, to make himself impregnably above the influence of any one of them; this he may accomplish by the methods given in liber aleph, liber jugorum, thien tao, and elsewhere. secondly, he must impose absolute silence upon them, as may be done by the "yoga" practices taught in book 4 (part i) liber xvi, etc. he is then ready to analyse them, to organize them, t

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE QABALAH

a gig s a trap; a trap s a snare; a snare s a gin; gin s a spirit; and a spirit s a ghost. but our identities are not thus false; meditation reveals their truth. further, as i shall explain fully later, 9 is not equal to 1 for the neophyte. these equivalences are dogmatic, and only true by favour of him in whom all is truth. in practice each equivalence is a magical operation to be carried out by the aspirant. part ii the universe as we seek to make it in the first part we have seen all numbers as veils of the one, emanations of and therefore corruptions of the one. it is the universe as we know it, the static universe. now the aspirant to magic is displeased with this state of things. he finds himself but a creature, the farthest removed from the creator, a number so complex and involved

agister templi, too, understands why zero must plunge through all finite numbers to express itself; why it must write itself as n n instead of 0; what gain there is in such writing. and this understanding will be found expressed in liber 418 (episode of chaos and his daughter) and liber legis (i. 28-30. but it must never be forgotten that everyone must begin at the beginning. and in the beginning the aspirant is a rebel, even though he feel himself to be that most dangerous type of rebel, a king dethroned* hence he will worship any number which seems to him to promise to overturn the tree of life. he will even deny and blaspheme the one whom, after all, it is his ambition to be because of its simplicity and aloofness. he is tempted to curse god and die. atheists are of three kinds. 1. the

derstand with the members of the sovereign sanctuary64 that all is symbolic; all, if you will, the jugglery of the magician. he is tired of theories and systems of theology and all such toys; and being weary and anhungered and athirst seeks a seat at the table of adepts, and a portion of the bread of spiritual experience, and a draught of the wine of ecstasy. it is then thoroughly understood that the aspirant is seeking to solve the great problem. and he may conceive, as various schools of adepts in the ages have conceived, this problem in three main forms. 1. i am not god. i wish to become god. this is the hindus conception. i am malkuth. i wish to become kether. this is the qabalistic equivalent. 2. i am a fallen creature. i wish to be redeemed. this is the christian conception. i am mal

negative. 11. the great magical number, as uniting the antitheses of 5 and 6 etc. dwa the magic force itself. 12. useless. mere symbol of the goal. 13. helpful, since if we can reduce our formula to 13, it becomes 1 without further trouble. 17. useful, because though it symbolises 1, it does so under the form of a thunderbolt. here is a magic disk for me to hurl, and win heaven by violence, says the aspirant. 21. as bad, nearly, as 7. 26. accursed. as bad as 4. only useful when it is a weapon in your hand; then if satan be divided against satan, etc. 28. attainable; and so, useful. my victory, my power, says the philosophus. 30. the balance truth. most useful. liber lviii 39 31. al the reply to la, who is the god of chesed, 4. the passionate denial of god, useful when other methods fail

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 5

in the zenith a minute point of light. and this light shall radiate until a right cone be established upon the sea, and it is day. with this thy body shall be rigid, automatically; and this shalt thou let endure, withdrawing thyself into thine heart in the form of an upright egg of blackness; and therein shalt thou abide for a space. 5. when all this is perfectly and easily performed at will, let the aspirant figure to himself a struggle with the whole force of the universe. in this he is only saved by his minuteness. but in the end he is overthrown by death, who covers him with a black cross. 6. so lying, let him aspire fervently unto the holy guardian angel. 7. now let him resume his former posture. two and twenty times shall he figure to himself that he is bitten by a serpent, feeling e

l-impoortant question of what we are to meditate upon. the subjects of meditation are classified in the books under forty heads; and in the old days a man wishing to practise "kammatthana" would go to some great man who had practised long, and had so attained to great spiritual knowledge, and by virtue of his spiritual knowledge that arahat could tell which of the forty categories would best suit the aspirant. now-a-days this is hardly possible, as so few practise this kammatthana; and so it is next to impossible to find anyone with this spiritual insight. so the best thing to do will be to practise those forms of meditation which will most certainly increase the highest qualities in us, the qualities of love, and pity, and sympathy, and indifference to worldly life and cares; those forms

a gig's a trap; a trap's a snare; a snare's a gin; gin's a spirit; and a spirit's a ghost" but our identities are not thus false; meditation reveals their truth. further, as i shall explain fully later, 9 is not equal to 1 for the neophyte. these equivalences are dogmatic, and only true by favour of him in whom all is truth. in practice each equivalence is a magical operation to be carried out by the aspirant. part ii the universe as we seek to make it 6 the complete dictionary, begun by fra. i.a, continued by fra. p. and revise by fra. a. e. g. and others, will shortly be published by authority of the a. a. in the first part we have seen all numbers as veils of the one, emanations of and therefore corruptions of the one. it is the universe as we know it, the static universe. now the aspir

ster templi, too, understands why zero must plunge through all finite numbers to express itself; why it must write itself as "n- n" instead of 0; what gain there is in such writing. and this understanding will be found expressed in liber 418 (episode of chaos and his daughter) and liber legis (i. 28-30. but it must never be forgotten that everyone must begin at the beginning. and in the beginning the aspirant is a rebel, even though he feel himself to be that most dangerous type of rebel, a king dethroned.7 hence he will worship any number which seems to him to promise to overturn the tree of life. he will even deny and blaspheme the one- whom, after all, it is his ambition to be- because of its simplicity and aloofness. he is tempted to "curse god and die" atheists are of three kinds. 1

understand with the members of the sovereign sanctuary that all is symbolic; all, if you will, the jugglery of the magician. he is tired of theories and systems of theology and all such toys; and being weary and anhungred and athirst seeks a seat at the table of adepts, and a portion of the bread of spiritual experience, and a draught of the wine of ecstasy. it is then thoroughly understood that the aspirant is seeking to solve the great problem. and he may conceive, as various schools of adepts in the ages have conceived, this problem in three main forms. 1. i am not god. i wish to become god. this is the hindu conception. i am malkuth. i wish to become kether. this is the qabalistic equivalent. 110 2. i am a fallen creature. i wish to be redeemed. this is the christian conception. i am

negative. 11. the great magical number, as uniting the antitheses of 5 and 6 etc. avd the magic force itself. 12. useless. mere symbol of the goal. 13. helpful, since if we can reduce our formula to 13, it becomes 1 without further trouble. 17. useful, because though it symbolises 1, it does so under the form of a thunderbolt "here is a magic disk for me to hurl, and win heaven by violence" says the aspirant. 21. as bad, nearly, as 7. 26. accursed. as bad as 4. only useful when it is a weapon in your hand; then "if satan be divided against satan" etc. 113 28. attainable; and so, useful "my victory "my power" says the philosophus. 30. the balance- truth. most useful. 31. la the reply to al, who is the god of chesed, 4. the passionate denial of god, useful when other methods fail. 32. admir

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 5

orting ra. i wanted to go back to the king's chamber. the angel pushed me away, saying "thou shalt see these visions from afar off, but thou shalt not partake of them save in the manner prescribed. for if thou change so much as the style of a letter, the holy word is blasphemed" and this is the manner prescribed: let there be a room furnished as for the ritual of passing through the tuat. and let the aspirant be clad in the robes of, and let him bear the insignia of his grade. and at the least he shall be a neophyte. three days and three nights shall he have been in the tomb, vigilant and fasting, for he shall sleep no longer than three hours at any one time, and he 7 no angel has been mentioned. the seer was lost to being. shall drink pure water, and eat little sweet cakes consecrated unt

wheel the hiereus in the ceremony of magister templi. 19. now cometh forth the angel who giveth instruction, in the lowest form. the hegemone in the ceremony of magister templi which the seer is about to undergo. 18. the vault of preparation for the ceremony of m.t. the veil is the crucifixion, symbol of the dead aeon. the first ordeal is undergone. 17. the symbol of the balance is now given unto the aspirant. 174 16. the sacrifice is made. the high priestess (image of babalon) cometh forth upon her beast and maketh this. 15. the mystic dance by salome. the new temple, the signs of the grades are received and the a.e. rejected. 14. the shrine of darkness. final initiation into grade of m. t. 13. the emergence of nemo into the world; his work therein. this is the first mystery revealed to a

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2 2

is but darkness and foolishness to the natural man. the "hierophant" giving his permission to the kerux to admit the candidate, seals the candidate with a motto as a new name. this motto is not a name given to the outer man's body, but an occult signifier of the aspiration of his soul "in affirmation of this motto, now doth osiris send forward the goddesses of the scales of the balance to baptize the aspirant with water and with fire. even as it is written 'except a man be born of water and of the spirit: in no wise shall he enter unto the kingdom of heaven. 253 the "kerux" however, at once bars the way, as the candidate is still unpurified. thereupon the goddesses of the scales purify and consecrate him. this is the first consecration "but even as there be four pillars at the extremities

him. then the hiereus returneth to the east of the black pillar so that the three chief officers may draw down upon him the forces of the supernal triad. the candidate now therefore is standing between the pillars bound with the rope, like the mummied form of osiris between isis and nephthys. and in this position doth the fourth and final consecration by the goddesses of the balances take place; the aspirant for the first time standing between the pillars, at the point wherein are localized the equilibrated forces of the balances, and meanwhile the kerux goeth to the north in readiness for the circumambulation, so as to link the latter with the final consecration of the candidate. the "stolistes" then says "frater x y z, i finally consecrate thee by water" and the "dadouchos "frater x y z

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2

ere, it is in that supreme state in which the man has built himself 79 up into god. one may doubt whether the drug alone ever does this. it is perhaps only the destined adept who, momentarily freed by the dissolving action of the drug from the chain of the four lower skandhas, obtains this knowledge which is his by right, totally inept as he may be to do so by any ordinary methods. in the case of the aspirant to meditation, this stage is even more terrible than the last. he has, to use our previous figures, suspended the law of gravitation; the stream is still, and the sun of the soul is faithfully reflected in its brilliance; the mighty engine is stopped. but "there it is" we have got rid of motion, but matter remains (again must i apologise for taking so elementary a view of physics) and

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3 2

ajesty before me. at my right hand is the pillar of fire: and on my left the pillar of cloud: below they are lost in clouds of darkness: and above in heaven in unnameable glory. let me enter, o gate of the west [pass to south-west and project astral. then saith the guardian of the gate of the west] thou canst not pass by me, saith the guardian of the west: except thou canst tell me my name [saith the aspirant] darkness is thy name: thou art the great one of the paths of the shades [saith the great one of the night of time] child of earth! remember that fear is failure: be thou therefore without fear: for in the heart of the coward, virtue abideth not! thou has known me now, so pass thou on [pass to the north, and exalt again thy mind unto the contemplation of the mercy and justice of our g

venly light: ever affirming to eternity the equilibration of the powers of god the vast one! let me pass the gate of the east land! let me pass the gate of the tuat, issuing forth with r in the glory of red dawn [pass to the north-east, project double to the place of the throne of the east, saying] thou canst not pass by me, saith the guardian of the east, except thou canst tell me my name [saith the aspirant "light dawning in the darkness" is thy name: the light of a golden day [saith the osiris] 20 these are the two pillars of the tree of life; the first containing the sephira chesed, and the second the sephira geburah. child of earth! remember that unbalanced force is evil: unbalanced mercy is but weakness, unbalanced severity is but cruelty and oppression. thou hast known me now: so pa

led word lvx, i have opened the vault of the adepts [all present give the lux sign as above""first point [the officers in this part of the ceremony are the second adept, who is now the principal officer, the third adept, who is second, and the introducing adept, who is spoken of as v.h. frater hodos camelionis. the "second adept" opens the first point by bidding v.h. fra: hodos camelionis prepare the aspirant, who is waiting without, and the associate adeptus minor to guard the inner side of the portal. the aspirant is then admitted, and at once commences to read out a list of the grades and honours he has attained to. when he has finished, the "second adept" turns to him and says] it is not by the proclamation of honours and dignities, great though they may be, that thou canst gain admiss

d honours he has attained to. when he has finished, the "second adept" turns to him and says] it is not by the proclamation of honours and dignities, great though they may be, that thou canst gain admission to the vault of the adepts of 5 for these signs see "liber o" the equinox, vol. i, no. 2. the rose of ruby and the cross of gold; but only by that humility and purity of spirit which befitteth the aspirant unto higher things [the aspirant then retires and divests himself of his ornaments, and is clothed in the black robe of mourning with his hands bound behind him, and a chain about his neck. the introducer then conducts him back to the door and gives a loud knock "third adept [opens the door and says] by the aid of what symbol do ye seek admission "introducer" by the flaming sword, and

things [the aspirant then retires and divests himself of his ornaments, and is clothed in the black robe of mourning with his hands bound behind him, and a chain about his neck. the introducer then conducts him back to the door and gives a loud knock "third adept [opens the door and says] by the aid of what symbol do ye seek admission "introducer" by the flaming sword, and the serpent of wisdom [the aspirant is then made to kneel facing east between the second adept and the third adept, the second adept offering up a prayer which ends. o god, the vast one; thou art in all things. o nature, thou self from nothing, for what can i else call thee? in myself i am nothing; in thee i am self, 212 and exist in thy selfhood from nothing. live thou then in me, and bring me unto that self which is i

rayer which ends. o god, the vast one; thou art in all things. o nature, thou self from nothing, for what can i else call thee? in myself i am nothing; in thee i am self, 212 and exist in thy selfhood from nothing. live thou then in me, and bring me unto that self which is in thee. amen. illustration facing page 212 the elemental tablets and cherubic emblems [the "third adept" then earnestly bids the aspirant not to look upon the trial of humility through which he has just passed as one ordained to jest with his feelings, but as a true manifestation of his own ignorance. the aspirant shortly after this rises to his feet and the "second adept" addresses him as follows] despise not sadness and hate not suffering. for they are the initiators of the heart; and the black robe of mourning, which

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rising on the planes; but still there remain to be shown the ceremonial methods he adopted; however, before we enter upon these, we must return to our first point, namely_ the meaning and value of ceremonial magic. ceremonial magic, as a means to attainment, has in common with all other methods, western or eastern, one supreme object in view_ identification with the godhead; and it matters not if the aspirant be theist or atheist, pantheist or autotheist, christian or jew, or whether he name the goal of his attainment god, zeus, christ, matter, nature, spirit, heaven, 135 reason, nirvana, asgard, no-thing or no-god, so long as he "has" a goal in view, and a goal he is striving to attain. without a goal, he is but a human ship without port or destination; and, without striving, work, will t

erfection, or equally safe. the traveller who would walk to rome must use his own legs_ his will to arrive there; but should he discard as useless the advice of such as know the way and have been there, and the maps of the countries he has to journey through, he is but a fool, only to be exceeded in his folly by such as try all roads in turn and arrive by none. as with the traveller, so also with the aspirant; he must commence his journey with the cry "i "will" attain! and leave nothing undone that may help him to accomplish this attainment. by contemplating the great work, and all means to 136 its attainment, little by little from the knowledge he has obtained will he learn to extract that subtle understanding which will enable him to construct such symbols of strength, such appliances of

t work, and all means to 136 its attainment, little by little from the knowledge he has obtained will he learn to extract that subtle understanding which will enable him to construct such symbols of strength, such appliances of power, such exercises of will and imagination, that by their balanced, chaste and sober use, he must succeed if he will to do so. so we see, it matters very little whether the aspirant, truly the seer, cry "yea" or "nay" so long as he do so with a "will" a "will" that will beget a sorcery within the cry; for as levi says "the intelligence which denies, invariably affirms something, since it is asserting its liberty" let us now inquire what this liberty is, but above all, whatever we write "be not satisfied with what we tell you; and act for yourself" and, if you act

ence be impassible, sober and chaste, disinterested, impenetrable, and inaccessible to any kind of prejudice or terror. he must be without bodily defects, and proof against all contractions and all difficulties. the first and most important of magical operations is the attainment of this rare pre-eminence.1 the "via mystica" leading to this pre-eminence may aptly be compared to a circle. wherever the aspirant strikes it, there he will find a path leading to the right and another leading to the left. to the right the goal is all things, to the left the goal is nothing. yet the paths are not two paths, but one path; and the goals are not two goals, but one goal. the aspirant upon entering the circle must travel by the one or the other, and must not look back; lest he be turned into a pillar

te, but which in truth is also a line of infinite shortness in that of the magus, if finite or infinite at all. the circle having been opened out, from the line can any curve be fashioned; and if the magus "wills it" the line "will be" a triangle, or a square, or a circle; and at his word it will 140 flash before him as a pentagram or a hexagram, or perchance as an eleven-pointed star. thus shall the aspirant learn to create suns and moon, and all the hosts of heaven out of unity. but first he must travel the circumference of the circle; and, when mystically he has discovered that the goal is the starting- point, and where he entered that circle there also will it break and open out, so that the adytum of its centre becomes as an arch in its outer wall, then indeed will he be worthy of the

eat_ the greatest; yet we shall see that this is the warfare that p. eventually waged. and where the strong have trod the weak may "dare" to follow. this path must necessarily be a difficult one; illusions and delusions must be expected, temptations and defeats encountered with equanimity, and fears and terrors passed by without trembling. the labours of hercules are a good example of the labours the aspirant, who would be an adept, must expect. however, there is not space here, nor is this the place, to enter into the twelve mystic works of this man who became a god. yet let us at least note three points_ that the tenth labour was to slay geryon, the "three-"headed and "three-"bodied monster of gades; that the eleventh was to obtain apples from the garden of the hesperides, where lived th

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4 2

ives for his palate and his stomach; he is always longing for tasty foods and spends his whole life seeking them. let us now substitute the symbol of the augoeides or atman for that of food and drink, let him every time he thinks of food and drink push the thought aside and in its place contemplate his higher self, and the result is a natural invocation of the atman, augoeides, or higher self. if the aspirant be an artist let him do the same with his art; if a musician, with his music; if a poet, with his verses and rhymes. for the best foundation to build upon is always to be found upon that which a man "loves "best" it is no good asking a glutton who does not care a row of brass pins for music, to turn music into a magical formula, neither is it of the slightest use to impress upon a cle

esult, in spite of the mental attitude of the chela towards them, so long as the instructions of the guru are properly carried out.294 as already pointed out, the mere fact of sitting for a time in a certain position, of inhaling, exhaling and of holding the breath, brings with it, even in the case of the most obdurate sceptic, a natural concentration, an inevitable ppraty h ra, which develops in the aspirant the siddhis, those seemingly miraculous powers which distinguish an adeptus major from an adeptus minor, and entitle the possessor to the rank of 6= 5. from this discovery295 frater p. made yet another, and this time one of still greater importance. and this was, that if the 194 adept, when once the siddhis were attained, by a self-control (a still higher concentration) refused to exp

and have made the universe in your image; if you see sex in everything, and think of sex as something unclean, it is because you are a sexual maniac. true, it is, of course, that the soul must not unite herself to every symbol, but only to the god which every symbol veils. and lake harris is perfectly clear on the point. the "counterpart" is often impersonated, with the deadliest results. but if the aspirant be wise and favoured, he will reject all but the true. and i really fail to see much difference between this doctrine and our own of attaining the knowledge an conversation of the holy guardian angel, or the hindu doctrine of becoming one with god. we may easily agree that lake harris made the error of thinking men pure-minded, and so used language which the gross might misinterpret;

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4

common prostitute, the toy of any man. to maintain this purity, this virginity, are the mysteries kept secret from the multitude. 10 and yet again this is a sheer deceit, as every conceit must be "verily he who has seen, heard, comprehended and known the atman, by him is this entire universe known."11 because there is but one atman and not many atmans. 54 the first veil against which we must warn the aspirant is the entanglement of language, of words and of names. the merest tyro will answer "of course you need not explain to me that, if i call a thing 'a' or 'b' it makes no difference to that thing in itself" and yet not only the tyro, but many of the astutest philosophers have fallen into this snare, and not only once but an hundred times; the reason being that they have not remained sil

that which is so affected, he has beheld like a glittering circle of sparks brahman bright as the sun, endowed with all might, beyond the reach of darkness, that shines in yonder sun as in the moon, the fire and the lightning. 27 brihad ranyaka upanishad, 4. 3-4. 28 these refer to the mystic lights in man. compare this with the diagram 2 "the paths and grades" in "the neophyte" after the atman in the aspirant has been awakened by the trumpet of israfel (the angel) he proceeds by the path of hb:shin. the next path the aspirant must travel is that of hb:resh- the sun; the next that of hb:qof- the moon; the next that of hb:tzaddi- the star. this path brings him to the fire of netzach. when this fire is extinguished comes the voice or lightning, after which the light which guides the aspirant

ng renounced all false desires and chains, the sanny si and yogi see certainly in their own spirit the universal spirit. 63. having seen the spirit that brings forth happiness in their own spirit, they forget this universe, and enjoy the ineffable bliss of sam dhi.35 as in the west there are various systems of magic, so in the east are there various systems of yoga, each of which purports to lead the aspirant from the realm of m y to that of truth in sam dhi. the most important of these are: 1. gana yoga. union by knowledge. 2. raha yoga. union by will 3. bhakta yoga. union by love. 65 4. hatha yoga. union by courage. 5. mantra yoga. union though speech. 6. karma yoga. union though work.36 the two chief of these six methods according to the bhagavad-g ta are: yoga by s khya (raja yoga, and

reduces fuel to ashes, o arjuna, so doth the fire of wisdom reduce all actions to ashes. verily there is nothing so pure in this world as wisdom; he that is perfected in yoga finds it in the atman in due season.41 karma yoga. union through work. very closely allied to gana yoga is karma yoga, yoga through work, which may seem only a means towards the former. but this is not so, for not only must the aspirant commune with the atman through the knowledge or wisdom he attains, but also through the work which aids him to attain it. a good example of karma yoga is quoted from chuang-tzu by flagg in his work on yoga. it is as follows: prince hui's cook was cutting up a bullock. every blow of his hand, every heave of his shoulders, every tread of his foot, every thrust of his knee, every "whshh"

eds should be kept secret.45 these three mantras can only be learnt from a guru, and are not given in the above book. by repeating them a various number of times certain results happen. such as: after eighteen lacs, the body will rise from the ground and remain suspended in the air; after an hundred lacs "the great yogi is absorbed in the para-brahman.46 bhakta yoga. union by love. in bhakta yoga the aspirant usually devotes himself to some special deity, every action of his life being done in honour and glory of this deity, and, as vivek nanda tells us "he has not to suppress any single one of his emotions, he only strives to intensify them and direct them to god" thus, if he devoted himself to shiva, he must reflect in his life to his utmost the life of shiva; if to shakti the life of sh

case is the mantra. 46 the absolute. 47 n rada s tra. translated by t. sturdy. also see the works of bhagavan ramanuja, bhagavan vyasa, prahlada, and more particularly vivek nanda's "bhakti yoga" bhakta yoga is divided into two main divisions (1) the preparatory, known as "gauni (2) the devotional, known as "par" thus it very closely resembles, even in detail, the operation of abramelin, in which the aspirant, having thoroughly prepared himself, devotes himself to the invocation of his holy guardian angel. 1. will now explain love. 2. its nature is extreme devotion to some one. 3. love is immortal. 4. obtaining it man becomes perfect, becomes immortal, becomes satisfied. 5. and obtaining it he desires nothing, grieves not, hates not, does not delight, makes no effort. 6. knowing it he beco

ALEXANDRIAN BOOK OF SHADOWS OCCULT

e altar. a short cord is tied like a garter round the initiate's left leg above the knee, with ends tucked in. another is tied round right ankle and ends tucked in so as to be out of the way while moving about. these cords are used to tie feet together while initiate is kneeling at the altar and must be long enough to do this firmly. knees must also be firmly tied. this must be carefully done. if the aspirant complains of pain the bonds must be loosened slightly; always remember the object being to retard the blood flow enough to induce a trance state. this involves slight discomfort; but great discomfort prevents the trance state, so it is best to spend some little time loosening and tightening the bonds until they are just right. the aspirant alone can tell you when this is so. this, of

ried with various tortures whilst sitting in a cramped position, which retarded the flow of blood; these tortures, long and continued, gave good results. in the art, we are taught an easier way, that is, to intensify the imagination, at the same time controlling the blood supply, and this may best be done by using the ritual. incense is good to propitiate the spirits, also to induce relaxation to the aspirant and to help build up the atmosphere which is necessary for suggestibility. myrrh, gum mastic, aromatic rush roots, cinnamon bark, musk, juniper, sandalwood and ambergris, in combination, are all good, but the best of all is patchouli. the circle being formed, and everything properly prepared, the aspirant should first bind and take his tutor into the circle, invoke suitable spirits fo

and ambergris, in combination, are all good, but the best of all is patchouli. the circle being formed, and everything properly prepared, the aspirant should first bind and take his tutor into the circle, invoke suitable spirits for the operation, dance round till giddy, meanwhile invoking and announcing the object of the work, then he should use the flagellum. then the tutor should in turn bind the aspirant- but very lightly, so as not to cause discomfort- but enough to retard the blood slightly. again they should dance round, then at the altar the tutor should use the flagellum with light, steady, slow and monotonous strokes. it is very important that the pupil should see the strokes coming, as this has the effect of passing, and helps greatly to stimulate the imagination. it is importa

strokes coming, as this has the effect of passing, and helps greatly to stimulate the imagination. it is important that the strokes be not hard, the object being to do no more than draw the blood to that part and away from the brain; this, with the light binding, slowing down the circulation of the blood, and the passes, soon induce a drowsy stupor. the tutor should watch for this, and as soon as the aspirant speaks or sleeps the flagellum should cease. the tutor should also watch that the pupil becomes not cold, and if the pupil struggles or seems distressed he should at once be awakened. be not discouraged if no results come at the first experiment- results usually occur after two or three attempts. it will be found that after two or three attempts or experiments results will come, and s

ALICE A BAILEY02 INITIATION HUMAN AND SOLAR

value underlying the form, and recognises the purpose of pervading circumstances. it is the capacity that senses the lesson to be learnt from any given occurrence and event, and that by means of these comprehensions and recognitions effects an hourly, weekly, yearly growth and expansion. this process of gradual expansion the result of the definite effort and strenuous right thinking and living of the aspirant himself and not of some occult teacher performing an occult rite leads to what one might term a crisis. at this crisis, which necessitates the aid of a master, a definite act of initiation is performed, which (acting on a particular centre) produces a result on some one body. it keys the atoms to a certain pitch, and enables a new rate of rhythm to be attained. this ceremony of initia

mahachohan. daily he pours out his blessing on the world, and daily he stands under the great pine in his garden at the sunset hour with hands uplifted in blessing over all those who truly and earnestly seek to aspire. to him all seekers are known, and, though they may remain unaware of him, the light which he pours forth stimulates their desire, fosters the spark of struggling life and spurs on the aspirant until the momentous day dawns when they stand face to face with the one who by being "lifted up (occultly understood) is drawing all men unto himself as the initiator of the sacred mysteries. the work of the lord of civilisation, the mahochohan. group three has as its head the mahachohan. his rule over the group persists for a longer period than that of his two brothers, and he may ho

opportunity, success, and disappointment, the gibes and machinations of enemies, the lack of comprehension on the part of those we love all is but to be used, and all exists but to be transmuted. continuity of vision, of aspiration, and of the inner touch, is seen to be of more importance than them all. that continuity is the thing to be aimed at, in spite of, and not because of circumstances. as the aspirant progresses he not only balances the pairs of opposites, but is having the secret of his brother's heart revealed to him. he becomes an acknowledged force in the world and is recognised as one who can be depended upon to serve. men turn to him for assistance and help along his recognised line, and he begins to sound forth his note so as to be heard in deva and human ranks. this he does

cognised line, and he begins to sound forth his note so as to be heard in deva and human ranks. this he does at this stage through the pen in literature, through the spoken word in lecturing and teaching, through music, painting and art. he reaches the hearts of men in some way or another, and becomes a helper and server of his race. two more characteristics of this stage might here be mentioned: the aspirant has an appreciation of the occult value of money in service. he seeks nothing for himself, save that which may equip him for the work to be done, and he looks upon money and that which money can purchase as something which is to be used for others and as a means to bring about the fruition of the master's plans as he senses those plans. the occult significance of money is little appre

an upon the probationary path is that which concerns his attitude to and his handling of that which all men seek in order to gratify desire. only he who desires naught for himself can be a recipient of financial bounty, and a dispenser of the riches of the universe. in other cases where riches increase they bring with them naught but sorrow and distress, discontent, and misuse. at this stage also the aspirant's life becomes an instrument of destruction in the occult sense of the term. wherever he goes the force which flows through him from the higher planes and his own inner god produces at times peculiar results upon his environment. it acts as a stimulator of both the good and the evil. the lunar pitris, or little lives which form the bodies of his brother and his own body, are likewise

ct that the method of initiation is the method of: a. force realisation. b. force application. c. force utilisation. the initiate of every degree, from the humble initiate of the first degree, making for the first time his contact with a certain type of specialised force, up to the emancipated buddha of the seventh degree, is dealing with energy of some kind or other. the stages of development of the aspirant might be expressed as follows: 1. he has to become aware, through discrimination, of the energy or force of his own lower self. 2. he has to impose upon that energetic rhythm one that is higher, until that lower rhythm is superseded by the higher, and the old method of expressing energy dies out entirely. 3. he then is permitted, by gradually expanding realisations, to contact and und

ALICE A BAILEY04 A TREATISE ON COSMIC FIRE

ical permanent atom. the egoic ray has a similar action upon the astral permanent atom. the monadic ray has a close connection with the mental unit. the effect which they have is threefold, but is not simultaneous; they work ever, as do all things in nature, in ordered cycles. the stimulation, for instance, that is the result of the action of the monadic ray upon the mental unit is only felt when the aspirant treads the path, or after he has taken the first initiation. the action of the egoic ray upon the astral permanent atom is felt as soon as the ego can make good connection with the physical brain; when this is so the egoic ray is beginning to affect the atom powerfully and continuously; this occurs when a man is highly evolved and is nearing the path. this threefold force is felt in t

fying the action of the centres, but he will pay the price of ignorance in the destruction of matter, in the burning of bodily or brain tissue, in the development of insanity, and in opening the door to currents and forces, undesirable and destructive. it is not the part of a coward, in these matters concerning the subjective life, to move with caution and with care; it is the part of discretion. the aspirant, therefore, has three things to do: 1. purify, discipline and transmute his threefold lower nature. 2. develop knowledge of himself, and equip his mental body; build the causal body by good deeds and thoughts, 3. serve his race in utter self-abnegation. in doing this he fulfils the law, he puts himself in the right condition for training, fits himself for the ultimate application of t

demonstrated the quickening of vibration by means of touch. inertia, mobility, rhythm, are the qualities manifested by the not-self. rhythm, balance, and stable vibration are achieved by means of this very faculty of touch or feeling. let me illustrate briefly so as to make the problem somewhat clearer. what results in meditation? by dint of strenuous effort and due attention to rules laid down, the aspirant succeeds in touching matter of a quality rarer than is his usual custom. he contacts his causal body, in time he contacts the matter of the buddhic plane. by means of this touch his own vibration is temporarily and briefly quickened. fundamentally we are brought back to the subject that we deal with in this treatise. the latent fire of matter attracts to itself that fire, latent in ot

ible to give more data concerning the unfoldment of the petals and their connection with the etheric centres. three hints of practical import anent this stupendous subject may however be given which, if duly pondered upon, may carry illumination to those who are ready. the first is that the etheric centres become active in a fourth dimensional sense (or become wheels turning upon themselves) when the aspirant has complied with certain details. he must work upon the unfoldment of the fifth and sixth petals, or the final two in the second circle and must endeavour to bring about two things in connection with his threefold lower nature: a. he must align his three bodies so that there is a direct channel of contact formed between the ego and the physical brain. b. he must strive to bring about

s have upon others. i refer to that spiritual radiation that is only responded to and realised by those who themselves are becoming aware of the spiritual centre within the heart. at this stage the man is recognised as one who can speak occultly "heart to heart" he becomes a stimulator of the heart centre in his brother, and one who arouses men into activity for others. the second hint is that as the aspirant becomes progressively radioactive, and as the energy of the inner god demonstrates more and more through the lower personality, the "heat radiations" become so powerful that very definite results are produced of a personal, and also of an environal, nature. a few of these results might be enumerated as follows: the etheric web, separating the lower physical consciousness of the brain

e centres in the torso are three in number, the heart, the throat, and the centre between the shoulder blades. we must here note that the throat centre is situated in the lower part of the throat, and properly belongs to the torso and not to the head. it should also be stated here that the centre between the shoulder blades is not a "sacred" centre, but is of a temporary nature, and is created by the aspirant himself during the process of transference- 511- a treatise on cosmic fire copyright 1998 lucis trust the second stage is that in which the energy of the lower six centres: a. the throat, b. the heart, c. the solar plexus, d. the spleen, e. the organs of generation, f. the base of the spine, are in due order according to a man's ray and subray transferred into the correspondences with

ALICE A BAILEY05 THE LIGHT OF THE SOUL

e right use of the mind and its utilisation by the soul for the achievement of group objectives and the development of group consciousness upon the physical plane- 1- copyright 1998 lucis trust hitherto the mind has either been prostituted to material ends or has been deified. through the science of raja yoga, the mind will be known as the instrument of the soul and the means whereby the brain of the aspirant becomes illuminated and knowledge gained of those matters which concern the realm of the soul. under the law of evolution likewise, the mind, being the fifth principle, the fifth root race must be intimately concerned with it, and its corresponding fifth subrace more intimately than any other. students would do well to bear in mind the following correspondences: 1. the fifth root race

hands of every student, the bhagavad gita, the new testament, and the yoga sutras, for in these three is contained a complete picture of the soul and its unfoldment. in the gita we have given us (in its eighteen chapters) a description of the soul, of krishna, the second aspect, in his true nature as god in manifestation, culminating in that marvellous chapter where he reveals himself to arjuna, the aspirant [page xiii] as the soul of all things, and the point of glory behind the veil of every form. in the new testament there is depicted for us the life of a son of god in full manifestation, wherein, freed from every veil, the soul in its true nature walks the earth. it becomes apparent to us, as we study the life of christ, what it means to develop the powers of the soul, to attain liber

ually, when the first aspect of the lower personal self, the mental body, is restrained, then the will aspect of the ego can be known, and through its activities, the purpose of the logos himself will be cognized. there are certain lines of least resistance in the spiritual life and along them certain forces or energies are released. a. emotional. intuitional or buddhic. monadic .t o the heart of the aspirant b. mental .s piritual or atmic .l ogoic .t o the head of the aspirant. the student is therefore given the word of restraint or control as a key to all his endeavors. the chitta is the mind, or mind-stuff, the mental body, the faculty of thought and of thought-form making, the sum total of the mental processes; it is the material governed by the ego or soul out of which thought forms a

nature of the soul, 3. identifies himself with the inner reality, and no longer with the concealing forms, 4. dwells in the centre and no longer upon the periphery, 5. achieves spiritual consciousness, 6. awakes to recognition of the god within. in these three verses, the method and the goal are described in clear and certain terms and the way prepared for the more detailed instruction to follow. the aspirant faces his problem, the clue to its solution is given to him, and the reward union with the soul is held before his seeking eye. the past is briefly covered in the next verse. 4. up till now the inner man has identified himself with his forms and with their active modifications. these forms are the modifications mentioned in the various translations, conveying the subtle truth concerni

ld do well to consider- 16- the light of the soul copyright 1998 lucis trust 1. those thought forms which he constructs himself, which have an evanescent life and which are dependent upon the quality of his desires; being therefore neither good nor evil, low nor high, can be vitalized by low tendencies or idealistic aspirations, with all the intermediate stages to be found between these extremes. the aspirant has to guard himself in order that he may not mistake these for reality. an illustration might well be given here, in respect to the facility with which people judge they have seen one of the brothers (or masters of the wisdom, whereas all they have perceived is a thought form of one of them; the wish being father to the thought they are the victim of that form of incorrect perception

hysical form, and called the "dweller on the threshold" being created by the lower personal self and not by the soul, it is impermanent and is simply held together by the man's lower energy. when the man begins to function as the soul this "image" he has created, through his "fancy" or his reaction to delusion, is dissipated by a supreme exertion. it has no real existence once there is nothing in the aspirant to feed it, and the realization of this enables him to free himself from its thraldom. this is one of the sutras which, though apparently short and simple, is of the most profound significance; it is studied by high initiates who are learning the nature of the creative process of the planet, and who are concerned with the dissipation of planetary maya. 10. passivity (sleep) is based u

ALICE A BAILEY07 FROM INTELLECT TO INTUITION

towards knowledge of the soul and the use of the mind in the apprehension of spiritual truth. the head and the heart become united in their endeavor. mind and pure reason are blended with love and devotion in an entire re-adjustment of the personality to a new realm of awareness. new states of consciousness are registered, a new phenomenal world is gradually perceived, and it begins to dawn upon the aspirant that his life-focus and his consciousness can be lifted entirely out of all past fields of endeavor. he finds that he can walk with god, dwell in heaven, and be aware of a new world lying within the familiar outer forms. he begins to regard himself as a conscious denizen of another kingdom in nature, the spiritual, which is as real and as vital, as ordered and as phenomenal as any we

ecognized: 1. prayer for material benefits, and for help. 2. prayer for virtues and for graces of character. 3. prayer for others, intercessory prayer- 28- from intellect to intuition copyright 1998 lucis trust 4. prayer for illumination and for divine realization. it will be seen from a study of these four types of prayer that all have their roots in the desire nature, and that the fourth brings the aspirant to the point where prayer can end and meditation begin. seneca must have realized this when he said "no prayer is needed, except to ask for a good state of mind, for health (wholeness) of soul" meditation carries the work forward into the mental realm; desire gives place to the practical work of preparation for divine knowledge and the man who started his long career and life experien

breathe towards" as webster puts it. the word "spirit" comes from the same root. aspiration must precede inspiration. there must be a breathing out from the lower self before there can be a breathing in by the higher aspect. from the standpoint of eastern mysticism, aspiration involves the idea of fire. it denotes a burning desire, and a fiery determination which eventually does three things for the aspirant. it throws a fierce light upon his problems, and constitutes the purificatory furnace into which the lower self has to go in order that all dross may be burned out, and it also destroys all hindrances which might keep him back. this same idea of fire runs through all books on christian mysticism, and many passages in the bible of a similar nature will come readily to mind. willingness

deviation from the strict path of rectitude. later this comes to be known as the voice of the silence, that word that comes from the "word incarnate" which is ourselves. each of us is a word made flesh. later still, we call it the awakened intuition. the student of meditation learns to distinguish accurately between these three. this requirement, therefore, calls for that implicit obedience which the aspirant renders promptly to the highest impulse which he can register at all times and at any cost. when this obedience is forthcoming it calls forth from the soul a downpouring of light and knowledge, and christ points this out in the words "if any man shall do his will, he shall know (john 7, 17. these three factors obedience, a search for truth in every form, and a fiery longing for libera

dure even though this illusion of individuality perishes..he will live his life as 'life, that is, as self-realization and self-completion, with the consciousness that it is not merely his own self that is being realized and perfected, but the universe, the deity, of whom this apparent self is a part."12(99- 69- from intellect to intuition copyright 1998 lucis trust personal feeling is ruled out. the aspirant masters the mind, holds it steady in the light and then sees and knows. then the stage of illumination follows. meister eckhart sums up the difference between the two ways as follows "knowledge raises the soul to the rank of god; love unites the soul with god; use perfects the soul to god. these three transport the soul right out of time into eternity."13(100) these distinctions shoul

nds himself so anxious to co-operate with the plan which he has contacted that his judgment is temporarily impaired and he works, and talks, and reads and writes with a tireless vigor which does, nevertheless, wear out the nervous system, and affect his vitality. all who have worked in the field of meditation, and who have sought to teach people along these lines are well aware of this condition. the aspirant does enter the realm of divine energy, and finds himself intensely responsive to it; he senses his group relations and responsibilities and feels as if he must do his uttermost to live up to them. this registering of a constant pouring in of vital force is eminently characteristic, for the co-ordination between the soul and its instrument, and the subsequent reaction of the nervous sy

ALICE A BAILEY08 A TREATISE ON WHITE MAGIC

am unborn, the soul that passes not away, though i am the lord of beings, yet as lord over my nature i become manifest, through the magical power of the soul" gita iv.6. the statistical and the academic is a necessary basis and a preliminary step for most scientific study, but in this book we will centre our attention on the life aspect, and the practical application of truth to the daily life of the aspirant. let us study how we can become practical magicians, and in what way we can best live the life of a spiritual man, and of an aspirant to accepted discipleship in our own peculiar times, state and environment. to do this we will take the fifteen rules for magic to be found in my earlier book, entitled a treatise on cosmic fire. i will comment on them, dealing not with their cosmic sign

e the life of a spiritual man, and of an aspirant to accepted discipleship in our own peculiar times, state and environment. to do this we will take the fifteen rules for magic to be found in my earlier book, entitled a treatise on cosmic fire. i will comment on them, dealing not with their cosmic significance or with solar and other correspondences and analogies, but applying them to the work of the aspirant, and giving practical suggestions for the better development of soul contact and soul manifestation. i shall take for granted certain knowledges and assume the students can follow and comprehend certain technical terms that i may be led to use. i am not dealing with babes but with matured men and women who have chosen a certain way and who are pledged to "walk in the light" i seek in

8 lucis trust rule one some basic assumptions we are entering upon a course of study wherein the entire tendency will be to throw the student back upon himself, and thus upon that larger self which has only, in most cases, made its presence felt at rare and highly emotional intervals. when the self is known and not simply felt and, when the realisation is mental as well as sensory, then truly can the aspirant be prepared for initiation. i would like to point out that i am basing my words upon certain basic assumptions, which for the sake of clarity, i want briefly to state. firstly, that the student is sincere in his aspiration, and is determined to go forward no matter what may be the reaction of and upon the lower self. only those who can clearly differentiate between the two aspects of

teach them how to link up the personal lower self with the overshadowing soul so that in the physical brain there is an assured consciousness as to the reality of that divine fact. this knowledge renders the hitherto assumed reality of the three worlds futile to attract and hold, and is the first step, out of the fourth, into the fifth kingdom. 2. to give such practical instruction as will enable the aspirant to a. understand his own nature. this involves some knowledge of the teaching of the past as to the constitution of man and an appreciation of the interpretations of modern eastern and western investigators. b. control the forces of his own nature and learn something of the forces with which he is surrounded. c. enable him so to unfold his latent powers that he can deal with his own s

ly yet profoundly under the following words: 1. egoic communication. 2. cyclic meditation. 3. coordination, or at-one-ment. the rules start off in a treatise on cosmic fire with a brief summary of the process and a statement as to the nature of the white magician. i would like in this first consideration of our subject to enumerate briefly the facts given in the commentary so as to demonstrate to the aspirant how much is given him for his consideration and helping if he knows how to read and ponder upon that which he reads. the brief exegesis of rule i gives the following statements: 1. the white magician is one who is in touch with his soul. 2. he is receptive to and aware of the purpose and the plan of his soul. 3. he is capable of receiving impressions from the realm of spirit and of re

under control, the second field of knowledge is revealed knowledge of the self in the spiritual body, knowledge of the ego as it expresses itself through the medium of the causal body, the karana sarira, and awareness of that source of spiritual energy which is the motivating impulse behind the lower manifestation. the "disk of golden light" is pierced; the true sun is seen; the path is found and the aspirant struggles forward into ever clearer light. as the knowledge of the self and as the consciousness of that which the self sees, hears, knows and contacts is stabilized, the master is found; his group of disciples is contacted; the plan for the immediate share of work he must assume is realized and gradually worked out on the physical plane. thus the activity of the lower nature decrease

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

e made to lose sight of self in service a service to be rendered in the place and under the circumstances which a man's destiny and duty have imposed upon him. i mean a renewal of the effort to bring about the purification of all the bodies so that the entire lower man may be a pure channel and instrument through which spiritual force may flow unimpeded. i mean the attaining of an attitudewherein the aspirant desires nothing for the separated self, and in which he regards all that he has as something which he can lay upon the altar of sacrifice for the aiding of his brethren. could all who read this book see the results of such a united effort, there would emerge a group activity, intelligently undertaken, which would achieve great things. so many people run hither and thither after this i

ve some idea of their technique of work and modes of procedure. letters on occult meditation indicated how these teachers could be reached and the discipline of life that the treading of the path involved. these two are especially for aspirants. a treatise on cosmic fire is in an entirely different category. in the last analysis, it is for the guidance of the initiates of the world, and will lift the aspirant's eyes away from himself and his own growth to a vaster conception and a universal ideal. the mark of the initiate is his lack of interest in himself, in his own unfoldment and his own personal fate, and all aspirants who become accepted disciples have to master the technique of disinterestedness. their eyes have also to be lifted away from the group of workers and from the hierarchy

first dealt with the psychology of deity, the work of the macrocosm, and the laws whereby the solar logos works, so this book constitutes a treatise on the psychology of the son of god and the work of the microcosm. it intimately concerns his place in the larger whole. i have also aided a.a.b. in getting out a translation of the yoga sutras of patanjali, which is a bridging book, intended to show the aspirant the rules whereby the light within him may be developed and the power of the intuition be brought to bear on all problems and on the- 6- a treatise on the seven rays- volume i: esoteric psychology i copyright 1998 lucis trust phenomena of life itself. this book was given the name the light on the soul. here i am fulfilling my intention to write a book on the subject of the seven rays

l-universal, cosmic, and divine, or individual and human. for our purposes of discussion, the soul exists, and its intrinsic reality is assumed, as a basic and proven principle. those who do not admit this assumption can, however, study the book from the angle of a temporarily accepted hypothesis, and thus seek to gather those analogies and indications which may substantiate the point of view. to the aspirant, and to those who are seeking to demonstrate the existence of the soul because they believe in its existence, this expression of its laws and tradition, its nature, origin and potentialities will become a gradually deepening and experienced phenomenon. what i indicate and the suggestions i may make, will, i forecast, be demonstrated, in the scientific sense, during the coming aquarian

ve there a perfect analogy to the way the great ones work at this time. regard, therefore, all your work as group work, causing effects which are inevitable and contributing to the potency of the group thought form- 13- a treatise on the seven rays- volume i: esoteric psychology i copyright 1998 lucis trust the second thing upon which i seek to touch concerns the testing going on inevitably among the aspirants and disciples at this time. this is not so much a testing of their place upon the path, as of their power to live in the world as citizens of another kingdom, and as the custodians of that which the world as a rule does not recognise. in so far as that testing is applied, and in so far as it can be gauged, i seek to point out that the testing is not applied, as some think, because of

o live in the world as citizens of another kingdom, and as the custodians of that which the world as a rule does not recognise. in so far as that testing is applied, and in so far as it can be gauged, i seek to point out that the testing is not applied, as some think, because of their affiliation with any group or because of their one-pointed determination to tread the path. it is applied because the aspirants' own souls so ordained it, prior to incarnation, and it was the will of their souls that a certain measure of growth, hitherto unknown, should be attained, a certain degree of detachment from form should be achieved, and a certain preparation should be undergone which would lead to a liberation from the form life. the idea that a renewed effort towards the goal of spiritual light is

ALICE A BAILEY10 FROM BETHLEHEM TO CALVARY

t of old said. a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it, for he shall be with them; the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein."16 it is a way that leads from that which lies without to that which dwells within. it reveals, step by step, the hidden life which every form and symbol veils and hides. it assigns to the aspirant certain tasks which lead to his understanding, and produces an inclusiveness and wisdom which meet his deeply sensed need. he passes from the stage of enquiry to what the tibetans call "straight knowledge" upon that path vision and hope give place to realisation. initiation after initiation is undergone, each one leading the initiate nearer to the goal of complete unity. those who in

itiates are taught to be inclusive in their thoughts and non-separative in their attitudes. they never set themselves apart from the rest of humanity by asserting their status and thus automatically placing themselves upon a pedestal. nor are the requirements, as stated in many of the esoteric books, quite as simple as they are made out to be. to read some of them, one would think that as long as the aspirant has achieved a measure of tolerance, of kindness, devotion, sympathy, idealism, patience and perseverance he has fulfilled the major requirements. these are indeed primary essentials, but to these qualities must be added an intelligent understanding and a mental unfoldment which will lead to a sane and intelligent cooperation with the plans for humanity. it is the balance of head and

umanity. initiation is therefore a reality and not a beautiful and rather easily attained vision, as so many occult and esoteric books seem to claim. initiation is not a process which a man undergoes when he joins certain organisations, and which can be understood only by joining such groups. it has nothing to do with societies, esoteric schools and organisations. all that they can do is to teach the aspirant certain well known and- 17- from bethlehem to calvary copyright 1998 lucis trust basic "rules of the road" and then leave him to understand or not, as his earnestness and development permit, and to pass on through the portal as his equipment and destiny allow. the teachers of the race, and the christ, who is the "master of all the masters and the teacher alike of angels and of men" ar

its definition of experience, and each giving us the sequence of the revelation of christ in the human heart. there is first of all the phrase "christ in you, the hope of glory."22 this is the stage which precedes and immediately follows the new birth, the birth at bethlehem. it is the stage towards which the masses of men are slowly but steadily working, and it is the immediate goal for many of the aspirants in the world today. secondly, there is the stage which is called that of a full-grown man in christ, indicating an increased experience of the divine life and a deeper unfoldment of the christ consciousness in the human being. towards this the disciples of the world are now oriented. then there is the stage of achievement, referred to by st. paul in the following terms "till we all c

use to express the transition which man can make out of the consciousness of the fourth or human kingdom, into the fifth or spiritual kingdom, the kingdom of god. christ came to reveal the way into that kingdom. this initiating soul, as we have already seen, is called by many names in the new testament, and in the other religions it is called by a terminology suited to the time and temperament of the aspirant. where the christian disciple speaks of "christ in you, the hope of glory,"11 the oriental disciple may speak of the self or the atman. the modern schools of thought speak of- 27- from bethlehem to calvary copyright 1998 lucis trust the ego, or the higher self, the real man, or the spiritual entity, whilst in the old testament reference is made to the "angel of the presence" a long li

o not know, for it will not be heard until the race is ready. but there is a common word of power which will be given into the custody of our race if we measure up to our opportunity and, through the new birth, enter into the kingdom of god. it is this word which will quicken into life the hidden soul of man and galvanise him into a renewed spiritual activity. as the race grows in sensitivity, as the aspirants- 34- from bethlehem to calvary copyright 1998 lucis trust of the world in all the many religions cultivate the ability (through meditation) to hear the voice which can tune out all other voices, and as they learn to register the sound which will obliterate all other sounds, they will, as a group, record the new word which will issue forth. at each initiation of jesus, as we shall see

ALICE A BAILEY11 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME II ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY II

ay of the mind has a very close relation to the solar angel, and there is a peculiar affiliation between the angel of the presence and the mental man. it is this deep-seated, though oft unrecognised, interplay and cultivated intercourse, which produces the at-one-ment between the soul and its mechanism, man in the three worlds. from the angle of these three ray influences, we have (in the life of the aspirant) a recapitulation of the triple process which we could call the "processes of unfoldment of the lemurian, atlantean, and aryan consciousness" on the path of probation, the ray of the physical body must become subordinated to the potencies emanating from those soul rays which stream forth from the outer tier of petals in the egoic lotus (see a treatise on cosmic fire) these are the- 13

h are being- 34- a treatise on the seven rays- volume ii: esoteric psychology ii copyright 1998 lucis trust magnetically related to each other and which are temporarily subordinated to varying aspects of force, in order to produce those fields of magnetic activity wherein certain needed rates of vibration may be established. from the angle of the initiates of the ageless wisdom, the story of man, the aspirant, is the story of his response to, or repulse of, applied energies. the fact that the interplay between different types of energy results in the formation of those aggregations or condensations of force which we call bodies, sheaths or vehicles (material or immaterial) is incidental to the main issue, which is the development of a conscious response to the life of god. small units of e

alifying principle which differentiates the mechanisms; there is a general synthesis and purpose, which defies the powers of man to emulate it creatively, and which is outstandingly the major characteristic of divinity. it expresses itself through colour and beauty, through reason and love, through idealism and wisdom, and through those many qualities and that purpose which, for instance, animate the aspirant. this is briefly and inadequately expressed divinity. it is, however, a relative expression of divinity. when each of us stands where stand the masters and the christ, we will regard this whole question from another point of view. the developing of virtues, the cultivation of understanding, the demonstration of good character and high aims, and the expression of an ethical and moral p

of those practices which tend towards right conduct, right speech, and good character. the thought underlying this paragraph links the conclusions of the materialistic school of psychologists with the introspectionist school and those schools which posit a self, a soul or a spiritual entity, and shows that both groups are dealing with facts, and that both must play their united parts in training the aspirant in the new age. 4. as the introspective method is pursued, and as we study the human subject, we discover that underlying the human body in all its parts, and constituting a definite part of the human apparatus, there is a vehicle which has been called the "etheric body, composed entirely of threads of force which, in their turn, form the channels along which still more subtle and var

oul can then, at will, withdraw from its physical vehicle in full waking consciousness, or stay in it as an incarnated son of god, whose consciousness is complete on the physical plane, the astral plane, and on the mental levels, as well as in the three aspects of lower mind, causal consciousness and nirvanic realisation. this process finds its consummation at the third initiation. in the life of the aspirant, the power to cause this tremendous happening is dependent upon the carrying forward of the inner subjective and spiritual work previously described as the "building of the bridge on the mental plane" between the above mentioned three aspects. for the race of men as a whole, this work began in the middle of our aryan race, and is today going forward very rapidly. for the individual as

isation. this process is in the nature of a review, such as one imposes on the consciousness at night, only it is carried over a period of years instead of hours. this thought merits consideration. this building of the antaskarana is most assuredly proceeding in the case of every dedicated aspirant. when the work is carried on intelligently and with full awareness of the desired purpose, and when the aspirant not only recognizes the process, but is alert and active in its fulfillment, then the work proceeds apace and the bridge is built. one thing only need be added in connection with this building of the antaskarana, and that is the statement of the significant fact that the more people can achieve this linking of the higher and lower aspects of the human nature, the more rapidly will the

ALICE A BAILEY12 DISCIPLESHIP IN THE NEW AGE VOLUME I

hierarchy exists, that its members are interested in human progress and that there is a definitely planned system of training offered by them which can lead a man out of the human kingdom into the kingdom of god; that this moving forward upon the path of evolution out of the fourth kingdom into the fifth can be brought about consciously, scientifically and with the full consent and cooperation of the aspirant. the day has now come when belief can (and does) give place to knowledge a knowledge gained through the acceptance of a hypothesis in the first place, a conviction that this hypothesis is backed by adequate testimony and planned experience. the reasoning mind of the disciple can then take the successes and failures he encounters in his training and learn the intended lessons; he finds

hich i may be led to give (probably at widely separated intervals) to my disciples. i am not basically writing for any of you at all but in order to lay the foundation for the group work to be done in the world during the coming years. what i say should be read with care, for the written word may contain several meanings and these can be sensed, according to the intuition awakened or otherwise of the aspirant. i, your tibetan brother, am supposing upon the part of each of my disciples, one basic essential at least and that is a persevering earnestness which nothing will deter. each of you starts upon this work with certain fundamental characteristics; each of you is beginning this definite enterprise of training for initiation with certain defects which act as deterrents and as handicaps;

p in the new age- volume i copyright 1998 lucis trust the teaching has always been given that the disciple or the initiate must adapt himself to, and learn from, the conditions in which he finds himself and from the setting and environment with which his physical plane life puts him in daily touch. this is one of the initial platitudes of the path. it was, however, at one time as new a concept to the aspirant and the disciple under training as is the teaching which i seek to give this group of my disciples and the opportunity which i would have you seize. the training, hitherto carried forward upon the inner planes, and unrealised oft in the waking consciousness of the accepted disciple, has now to be grasped, used and mastered in his waking consciousness and physical brain. the disciple i

as they are for they are in reality full of beauty, the beauty of potentiality, hovering upon the verge of immediacy of expression. today, they are working primarily upon the mental plane, dealing with ideas and with their impression upon the minds of their disciples and advanced humanity; it is the problem of humanity itself, as a whole, to work in the world glamour; it is the responsibility of the aspirants of the world to guide humanity out of the valley of glamour. men must learn to understand it and eventually aided by the senior disciples of the world, trained by the masters of the wisdom to transmute and dispel it. you should, therefore, bear in mind that the task before the modern disciple is to carry forward into the new age the idea of the bringing of glamour and of the great il

ever, they serve to establish a true recognition of reality, of synthesis and of relation in the disciple's consciousness, they are then of real value. those three words reality, synthesis, relation indicate the goal and the problem of the disciple, plus the resultant effect of conscious, intelligent, spiritual work, motivated by love. in the new age, as i have earlier pointed out, the keynote of the aspirant's progress will be love of humanity; this will indicate the awakening of the heart centre. in the past and up until the last few years, the keynote has been service because (if selflessly rendered) it embodied a technique which automatically brought the heart centre into activity. it is love of humanity which is the major lack in the character of many disciples today. they love those

orial visualisation (which is a definite feature of the work in many esoteric schools) is simply an exercise to bring about the power to visualise. in the work of those disciples who are being trained for initiation, this external aspect of visualisation must give place to an interior process which is the first step towards the direction of energy. the visualising of pictures is intended to focus the aspirant within the head at a point midway between the pituitary body and the pineal gland. in that area, he draws pictures and paints scenes and thus acquires facility to see in large and in detail that which he desires and for which he intends to work. the visualising of what might be called "directed process" goes on in a more focussed manner and in the area directly around the pineal gland

ALICE A BAILEY14 THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE CHRIST

s use is unknown. all this has taken place in the space of eighteen months. this new invocation, if given widespread distribution, can be to the new world religion what the lord's prayer has been to christianity and the 23rd psalm has been to the spiritually minded jew. there are three approaches to this great prayer or invocation: 1. that of the general public. 2. that of the esotericists, or of the aspirants and the disciples of the world. 3. that of the members of the hierarchy. first, the general public will regard it as a prayer to god transcendent. they will not recognise him yet as immanent in his creation; they will send it forth on the wings of hope hope for light and love and peace, for which they ceaselessly long. they will also regard it as a prayer for the enlightenment of all

d a part also of that unreal world to which we refer when we pray the ancient prayer "lead us from the unreal to the real" what is said about it has little basis in fact; it has, however, served a useful purpose as a field of experience in which we can learn to differentiate between the true and the- 70- the reappearance of the christ copyright 1998 lucis trust untrue; it is an area also in which the aspirant can use the discriminating faculty of the mind the great discloser of error and the eventual revealer of truth. once that "mind is in us which is also in christ (phil. ii.5, we shall find that the control of this emotional nature and this sentient area of consciousness (the astral plane, if you prefer the term) becomes complete. then this past sentient control and its entire area of i

men, bringing them into rapport with the heart of god. because of the magnitude of this theme and the wide extent of the psychological area in which the mass of men now live, i cannot further enlarge. this field of experience and of trial is well known to all aspirants and is the battlefield of millions. the christ within, as the controller of the individual life, can bring that battle to an end; the aspirant can emerge clear sighted and unafraid. the appearance of the christ among men will do the same thing for humanity as a whole, not in any vicarious sense but through the livingness of his presence, stimulating the christ principle in every human heart- 73- the reappearance of the christ copyright 1998 lucis trust chapter six the new world religion the world today is more spiritually in

hour out of the twenty-four (or perhaps two) would cover the time given to the master's work; he hides behind the alibi that his home obligations prevent his doing more and does not realise that given tact and loving understanding his home environment can and must be the field in which he triumphs; he forgets that there exist no circumstances in which the spirit of man can be defeated or in which the aspirant cannot meditate, think, talk and prepare the way for the coming of the christ, provided he cares enough and knows the meaning of sacrifice and silence. circumstances and environment offer no true obstacle to the spiritual life. perhaps he hides behind the alibi of poor health and frequently behind that of imaginary ills. he gives so much time to the care of himself that the hours whic

ALICE A BAILEY15 THE DESTINY OF THE NATIONS

for advanced humanity) the sequence of the recognition of these expansions of consciousness is as follows: 1. the world of psychical living. this requires the recognition, by the brain consciousness, of the need for mental and spiritual control, as the first step. 2. the world of mental unfoldment. 3. the world of the soul or ego, the individualised man. when these recognitions are established in the aspirant, then there comes the recognition by the disciple of the master who should guide him. 4. the control of the physical plane life by the soul. 5. the functioning and the utilisation of the psychic powers and their place and part in the field of intelligent service. 6. the interpretative faculty of the illumined mind. 7. an inspired creative life upon the physical plane. in that developm

and for synthesis. all of the great nations are controlled by two rays, just as is the human being. with the smaller- 26- the destiny of the nations copyright 1998 lucis trust nations we need not concern ourselves. all the nations are controlled by a personality ray, which is the dominant potent and main controlling factor at this time, and by a soul ray which is sensed only by the disciples and the aspirants of any nation. this soul ray must be evoked into an increased functioning activity by the new group of world servers, for this is one of their main objectives and tasks. this must never be lost to sight. much could be written about the historical influence of the rays during the past two thousand years and of the way in which great events have been influenced or brought about by the

ctivity and its major characteristics first of all. they are, for us, the most familiar and can be rapidly considered, enabling us to pass on to the new ways of demonstrating and discovering the ancient wisdom, and to the comprehension of the fresh modes of working which will give new vitality to the work of the hierarchy upon the physical plane. the outstanding characteristic of the disciple and the aspirant under the old regime was devotion. the race had, of necessity, to achieve a different and right orientation to the world of spiritual values, and hence the effort of the hierarchy during the past twenty centuries was to lay the emphasis upon the realm of religious values. the world religions have held the centre of the stage for several thousand years in an effort to make humanity see

ate even the "lowest of the sons of men" ray iv this ray, as you know, begins to come into incarnation early in the next century and in collaboration with the developing saturnian influence will lead many on to the path of discipleship. when the peculiar energy to which we give the somewhat unsatisfactory name of "harmony through conflict" and the forces of that planet which stage opportunity for the aspirant are working in combination and an ordained synthesis, we can then look for a very rapid adjustment in human affairs, particularly in connection with the path. this fourth ray is, in the last analysis, the ray which teaches the art of living in order to produce a synthesis of beauty. there is no beauty without unity, without embodied idealism and the resultant symmetrical unfoldment. t

ALICE A BAILEY16 GLAMOUR A WORLD PROBLEM

e subjective reality. 2. it tends to bring about a close integration between soul-mind-brain, and when that is brought about, the inflow of the intuition and, consequently, of illumination and truth becomes more rapidly possible. 3. it will put a strain upon certain unawakened areas in the brain and arouse into activity the brain cells there found, and this is the first stage in the experience of the aspirant. with the majority of true aspirants, the centre between the eyebrows is awakened, whilst the centre at the top of the head is vibrating very gently, but is not in full functioning activity. this higher centre must be awakened more fully before aspirants can measure up to their full opportunity. in the study of symbols, i would urge upon you the necessity always to put before yourselv

due interpretation of life forms and their meaning. also, too much academic interest in symbols may presuppose a tortuous and intricate mind which loves design and line and form and numerical relationships, but which misses entirely the significance of meaning. the balancing in the mind of form and concept, of expression and quality, of sign and meaning is vital to the growth of the disciple and the aspirant. the great need for most students is to arrive at meaning and to work with ideas and concepts. this activity will necessitate the use of the mind to understand, to grasp and to interpret. it requires the development of that mental sensitivity which will enable its possessor to respond to the vibrations of what we call the universal mind, the mind of god, the instigator of the plan. it

amour: a world problem copyright 1998 lucis trust 3. maya is vital in character and is a quality of force. it is essentially the energy of the human being as it swings into activity through the subjective influence of the mental illusion or astral glamour or of both in combination. 4. the dweller on the threshold, always present, swings however into activity only on the path of discipleship, when the aspirant becomes occultly aware of himself, of the conditions induced within him as a result of his interior illusion, his astral glamour and the maya surrounding his entire life. being now an integrated personality (and no one is a disciple, my brother, unless he is mental as well as emotional, which is a point the devotee oft forgets) these three conditions (with the preponderance of the eff

earn to induce those conditions of clarity and truth which will overcome the ancient rhythms and deep-seated habits and thus steadily purify the aura. but this has now to be done as a group, and this group constitutes one of the first of the exoteric groups with which it is intended to work in the new age. through the activity of such groups, the world glamour will be dissipated, but first of all the aspirant must learn to deal with individual and group glamour. it is necessary to remember the following three things. i am going to be brief and technical in teaching this group, for my time is short and you have an adequate technical knowledge with which to understand that whereof i speak. first, the united auras of the group members ever determine the group condition, the group activity, us

s the maya of distorted energy currents ceases to swing you into lines of undesirable activity, the light that is in you will shine forth with greater clarity. incidentally the dweller on the threshold will slowly and surely disintegrate and leave your way, to the door of initiation, free and unimpeded. strongly mental types are subject to illusion. this illusion is in reality a condition wherein the aspirant is being definitely controlled by: 1. a thoughtform of such potency that it does two things: a. controls the life activity or output. b. tunes the aspirant in on the mass thoughtforms, which are of a similar nature, and which are built by others under the dominance of a similar illusion. this, in its worst aspect, produces mental insanity or id e fixe, but in its least dangerous and n

it is mediating interpreters of ideas that are needed and not mediums. the emotional types respond with facility to world glamour and to their own individual inherited and self-induced glamour. the bulk of the people are purely emotional with occasional flashes of real mental understanding very occasional, my brother, and usually entirely absent. glamour has been likened to a mist or fog in which the aspirant wanders and which distorts all that he sees- 20- glamour: a world problem copyright 1998 lucis trust and contacts, preventing him from ever seeing life truly or clearly or the conditions surrounding him as they essentially are. when he is a somewhat advanced aspirant, he is aware of the glamour and occasionally sees in a flash in what direction truth for him may lie. but then again th

ALICE A BAILEY17 TELEPATHY AND THE ETHERIC VEHICLE

down in two great stages, therefore, bringing it into concrete manifestation. we now carry this conception of divine impression down to the level of the human consciousness. 3. the impression of humanity by: a. the hierarchy, through the stimulating of ideas. these demonstrate through a steadily growing and enlightened public opinion. b. the influence of the ashrams of the masters as they affect the aspirants of the world, the humanitarians and the idealists. these impressing agencies, being seven in number, constitute seven different streams of impressing energy which affect the seven ray types. the united ashrams, forming the great ashram of the christ, affect humanity as a whole; this great united ashram works solely through the new group of world servers whose members are on all rays

tion and eventually found its place upon the mental plane. you will see also why disciples and world workers have to function as minds, as receptive and perceptive intelligences and as creators in mental matter. it is all related to this science of impression with which we have been dealing. you will note also that this whole process is capable of expansion in the processes of meditation, so that the aspirant can be sensitive to impression and (because he is oriented to the world of ideas and is aware of the subtlety and delicacy of the apparatus required to register the "overshadowing cloud of knowable things) is safeguarded from the sensitivity required to register impacts from other minds, good or bad in their orientation, and from the thought currents of that which is in process of tak

wakening to that which eternally is, and to what is ever present in the environment but of which the subject is unaware, owing to short-sightedness. the aim must be to overcome the undue concentration upon the foreground of daily life which characterises most people, the intense preoccupation with the interior states or moods of the lower self which characterises the spiritually minded people and the aspirants, and the imperviousness or lack of sensitivity which characterises the mass of men. the kingdom of god is present on earth today and forever has been, but only a few, relatively speaking, are aware of its signs and manifestations. the world of subtle phenomena (called formless, because unlike the physical phenomena with which we are so familiar) is ever with us and can be seen and co

are naturally concerned with what is inherent in man and in his relation to his environment and circumstances. the germ or embryonic capacity for all types of planetary contact is inherent in every man and will not be frustrated in the long run. in this knowledge of goals already achieved in the three worlds lies the guarantee of achievement in the more subjective worlds which are present within the aspirant's surroundings but to which he remains as yet unawakened and unenlightened. i am seeking to make the matter as simple as i can, for much of the abstract formulations of the occult sciences and the academic psychologists are incident to the over-activity of men's minds and emotional natures. if you can grasp certain broad and relatively simple facts and recognise that you possess the k

o many, as this has been dealt with earlier in this book. but at this point i should like to emphasise something which applies to every human being. when animal-man passed through the door of individualisation and became a human being he came possessed of an innate potency of sight; for aeons he has seen in the three worlds, and many have for several lives sought after the vision which stabilises the aspirant upon the path. through the door of initiation, having attained the mystical vision, each aspirant will become aware of that within himself which permits of a spiritual perception of such an expansive nature that he gets his first real and individual glimpse of the divine plan; from that moment his entire life is altered. later (and this i cannot expect the student to understand; if he

archy. such a group can be in the position of being able to invoke the hierarchy with power if it so choose. i am again bringing these things to your attention as aspirants and disciples, but from an angle different to those in my earlier writings. the responsibility of impressionability, of telepathic registration and of invocative appeal is very great" sources of impression for the disciple for the aspirant and particularly for the conscious disciple, the impression to be considered- 49- telepathy and the etheric vehicle copyright 1998 lucis trust comes from four sources: 1. from the disciple's own soul. 2. from the ashram with which he is to be affiliated. 3. directly from the master. 4. from the spiritual triad, via the antahkarana. the first two stages cover the period of the first tw

ALICE A BAILEY18 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME III ESOTERIC ASTROLOGY

n the path of initiation and is called the experience of the mountain top. all are needed the depths, the plains and the mountain top. as you know, sagittarius is one of the four arms of the mutable cross. an idea of the general symbology of this cross, from the quality angle, can be gained if we give the two sets of characteristics which distinguish the man upon this cross both unevolved man and the aspirant to divinity. we might list these as follows, finding for each arm a distinctive phrase: gemini changeableness. instability. interplay. sagittarius ambitious desire. direction- 109- a treatise on the seven rays- volume iii: esoteric astrology copyright 1998 lucis trust orientation. unevolved man virgo material life. the cherishing of an idea. pisces sensation. mediumship. fluidity. gem

l carry him through the portal of initiation. in studying sagittarius, it becomes obvious that one of the major underlying themes is that of direction. the archer is guiding his horse towards some one specific objective; he is sending or directing his arrow towards a desired point; he is aiming at some specific goal. this sense of direction or guidance is characteristic of the enlightened man, of the aspirant and disciple, and this is a growing recognition; when this faculty of sensitive direction is rightly developed it becomes, in the early stages, an effort to identify all soul and personality activity with god's plan, and this is, in the last analysis, the ordered direction of god's thought. there is no true direction apart from thought, and i would have you remember that thought is po

ges toward group awareness and group response, plus group service, are now taken. such is the outcome and the reward of the experience in scorpio. it is in this sign that the prodigal son comes to himself, and having eaten of the husks of life and having exhausted the resources of worldly desire and ambition he says "i will arise and go to my father" there are two such major crises in the life of the aspirant: 1. when the intelligent man of the world comes to himself and then re-orients himself to the soul and its requirements. this leads to the tests in scorpio. 2. when the initiate of the third degree upon a higher turn of the spiral re-orients himself to the monad and passes through most subtle tests to certain undefinable and spiritual recognitions- 125- a treatise on the seven rays- v

etween the pairs of opposites. hence the importance of this sign in the life expression of the man and hence also its peculiar difficulty; it provides the curious see-saw experience which proves so distressingly bewildering first to the man who seeks to be entirely human but finds within himself impediments and urges which drive him on to something which is higher than the human and, secondly, to the aspirant or the disciple. his focus of interest and his aim is soul life, yet he finds within himself that which seeks ever to draw him back to the old ways, the old habits and the old desires. this sign is sometimes called "the place of judgment" for it is here that the decision is made and the die is cast which separate the "sheep from the goats" or those constellations ruled by aries (the r

. this is of itself of a basic usefulness and thereby they learn; for all action produces results and the judicial mind weighs cause and effect more correctly than any other. it is not my intention here to indicate the solution of the problem of sex. humanity will inevitably work it out as the aeons slip away and as the herd instinct gives place to the premeditated and self-conscious attitudes of the aspirant and the intelligentsia. i would remind you, however, that the herd instinct in relation to sex has its basis either in normal and natural animal instinctual desire or in emotional attitudes, and of these the last category are by far the worst and carry with them by far the more deep-seated seeds of trouble. they range all the way from the stage of free love and a general promiscuity t

r upon him when the fiery triplicity plays its part and the influence of aries-leo-sagittarius begins to re-orient him towards universality, self-consciousness and one-pointed attitudes. as we go on with our study, the significance of this statement will increasingly appear. i am hinting at matters of spiritual and esoteric importance because this sign, leo, is of paramount control in the life of the aspirant. he has to know himself through true self-awareness before he can know that divine spirit which is his true self and know also his fellowmen. leo is a part of the sphinx, and upon this i need not enlarge as we have touched upon this- 171- a treatise on the seven rays- volume iii: esoteric astrology copyright 1998 lucis trust elsewhere. this is a great mystery. virgo and leo together s

ALICE A BAILEY19 THE UNFINISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHY

for a couple of weeks or a month and then decide what i felt about it. it was during these few weeks that i got the first chapters of "initiation, human and solar" i would like to make it quite clear that the work i do is in no way related to automatic writing. automatic writing, except in the rarest cases (and, unfortunately, most people think their case is the rare exception) is very dangerous. the aspirant or disciple is never supposed to be an automaton. he is never supposed to let any part of his equipment out of his conscious control. when he does, he enters into a state of dangerous negativity. the material normally then received is mediocre. there is nothing new in it, and it frequently deteriorates as time goes on. many a time, the subject's negativity permits the entrance of a se

ess itself. this work as it deals with elemental forces is dangerous and even the pure in heart need protection. esotericism is in reality the science of- 120- the unfinished autobiography copyright 1998 lucis trust the soul. it concerns the living, spiritual, vital principle found in every form. it establishes a unity both in time and space. it motivates and implements the plan from the angle of the aspirant and is the science of the path, and it instructs man in the techniques of the coming superman and thus enables him to set his feet upon the path of the higher evolution. the curriculum of the school was gradually unfolded. we kept the work, and still keep it, fluid in an effort to meet the changing needs and we were gradually acquiring a staff of trained men to superintend the work. f

dance with the highest ideals, and upon the presentation of a teaching which will evoke both the respect and the intuitive response of the disciple. the teacher of the future will simply point the way, tread the way with the disciple, and emphasise the ancient rules but with their new interpretations. he will no longer stand (as he frequently does today) between the group and the light or between the aspirant and the master. these preparatory schools are already in process of forming and the starting of the arcane school in 1923 was a part of this spiritual effort. from these proposed schools will emerge, early in the next century, the first of the true schools of initiation. up to date, the so-called esoteric schools have dealt with aspirants upon the path of probation or of purification

are exacted from any student, at any stage. as the students have voluntarily entered the school, we assume that they will (still voluntarily) attempt to carry out the requirements. this expectation has, however, nothing to do with occult obedience, but is simply commonsense. occult obedience is a spontaneous reaction of the mind to the imposition of the desires or will of the soul. it means that the aspirant to discipleship is training himself to become sensitive to impressions coming from his soul and then hastens to obey. the goal of meditation is, first of all, to bring about this sensitivity and enable the student, therefore, to work in the light of soul guidance. the personality becomes increasingly sensitive to soul impression by this means and by following the path of true occult o

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

asses of people throughout the world, and those whom we call the vast unthinking public, the dominating factors are the stream of life and the stream of astral or desire energy. this can be either of a low or medium calibre. with the thinking public, the dominating factors are these two streams, plus a steady inflowing and increasing tide of mental energy. with the intelligentsia of the world and the aspirant (those ready for, or already on, the probationary path) we find the above three streams reaching a point of equilibrium, and thus- 21- a treatise on the seven rays- volume iv: esoteric healing copyright 1998 lucis trust producing an integrating or coordinating personality. these number amongst them also the mystics of the world and the creative workers, who are conscious of the inspir

nergy, whilst the other three energies are being increasingly subordinated to this higher type of control. it should be borne in mind that there are two other types of energy with which to reckon, when considering intelligent man. 1. the energy which is composed of the fused and blended forces of a coordinated personality. 2. the energy of the physical plane itself, which is finally identified by the aspirant or disciple, and becomes so utterly negated that eventually it constitutes one of the major factors in the release of the centres. finally the time comes when the initiate works simply with three types of energy whilst expressing himself in incarnation: the energy of life itself, the negative energy of the personality, and the positive energy of the soul. thus he is an expression in c

r consciousness. 2. it is the most developed of the bodies at this time, and therefore receives the bulk of the life energy as it comes down the life stream, from the soul, and likewise receives the energy of the stream of consciousness. 3. it is oriented, if i may so express it, outwards or towards the plane of physical experience. that orientation shifts at times and, temporarily in the case of the aspirant, turns inwards. just as the centres in man, the "lotuses of life" are depicted as turned downwards and with the stalk upwards in the undeveloped man, but are turned upwards in the case of the developed, so there are conditions in the astral body analogous to this. in the case of the highly evolved man, of the initiate or the master, the astral body is steadily oriented towards the sou

. i pointed out earlier that the three major groups of diseases for the masses are 1. tuberculosis. 2. the social diseases, as they are called: the venereal diseases and syphilis. 3. cancer. to these we must add two other groups of disease which predominantly affect those who are a little above the average and whose general level of intelligence is higher than that of the mass; this includes also the aspirants of the world. 4. heart diseases, but not what is called heart failure. 5. the nervous diseases so prevalent at this time. these five groups of disease, and their various sub-divisions are responsible for the bulk of the physical ills which attack humanity. a right grasp of their preponderating causes will be of definite assistance to future medicine. how much will be accepted is at t

introverts. these two types produce their own qualities of disease, which demonstrate as ill health through over-expression or inhibition. we have considered our second point under the healing of diseases which arise in the emotional or desire nature. our first point deals with uncontrolled emotion. i would remind you of our premise that we would only consider the ills to which advanced humanity, the aspirants and disciples of all degrees are prone. we will not deal (in this short treatise) with the whole gamut of diseases which affect humanity as a whole, or down the ages. the more advanced the aspirant, the greater probability there is that the diseases from which he suffers will be pronounced and powerfully demonstrating, on account of the inflow to a greater or less degree of the stimu

which the trouble comes. let him relate the cause and the effect, and know the point exact through which the help must come. rule four the healer and the healing group must keep the will in leash. it is not will that must be used but love. 2. difficulties incident to soul contact. today we begin a study of the difficulties, the diseases and the psychological troubles (neurological and mental) of the aspirants and of the disciples of the world. these we shall study definitely from the angle of the seven centres, as well as considering the results of the forces and energies (i use these distinctive words advisedly) which pour through them. much that i shall say will be open to question from the viewpoint of orthodox medicine, yet, at the same time, orthodox medicine has been steadily drifti

ALICE A BAILEY21 EDUCATION IN THE NEW AGE

nues. man weaves a thread which is like the thread the spider weaves so amazingly. he reaches out still further into his possible environment and then discovers an aspect of himself of which he had little dreamt in the early stages of his development. he discovers the soul and then passes through the illusion of duality. this is a necessary but not a permanent stage. it is one which characterises the aspirant of this world cycle, perhaps i should say this manvantara or world period. he seeks to merge himself with the soul, to identify himself, the conscious personality, with that overshadowing soul. it is at this point, technically speaking, that the true building of the antahkarana must be begun. it is the bridge between the personality and the soul. the recognition of this constitutes th

ALICE A BAILEY22 DISCIPLESHIP IN THE NEW AGE VOLUME II

n as a whole, is not a thing lightly to be undertaken. expansion if it is to be safely undertaken must proceed hand in hand with consolidation. the expansion now contemplated in the highest quarters will greatly alter the potency of the relation of the hierarchy to humanity, and therefore of the second divine aspect to the third. can humanity take this increased potency correctly and safely? will the aspirants of the world if given opportunity to pass off the probationary path on to the path of discipleship be stable enough to stand steady under the impact of hitherto undiscerned spiritual energy? can the masters, under the pressure of their enormous task of world reconstruction, find the needed time to increase their training of their disciples? for they are still governed by the time equ

netary crises through which the planetary logos is at this time passing should result in the emergence of many initiates; no true disciple is exempt from the effects of this planetary situation. inevitably, changes are wrought by the soul in the personal life. when these changes are focussed through the lower centres and the lower bodies, the general result is purification and character building. the aspirant is then still upon the probationary path. when the disciple is in the position where he can pass through the first three initiations, then the inflowing energies work through the heart, the throat and the ajna centres; when the highest head centre and the lowest spinal centre are simultaneously involved, the disciple is then able to take the higher major initiations. much of this has

y. among those chosen there has been much failure, but because consecration and devotion to either the hierarchy or humanity are still to be found in them, the affiliation with my ashram still persists, even though in so few cases can permission to move closer be granted; they are not yet ready to reach a "more enlightened ashramic position" as it is called. 2. affiliation with an ashram subjects the aspirant to intensified stimulation; in many cases it proved impossible for some chelas to handle it. spiritual energy pouring into the personality, via the aspirant's own soul, fostered the emergence of that which was good but also of that which could not be taken closer into the ashram itself. the undesirable qualities had to be eliminated (such were s.c.p. and l.u.t) this stimulation cannot

make the group work, group relationships, group identification and group initiation a sound, active and factual reality in your minds and in the minds of other aspirants and disciples. i seek with profound earnestness to make this theme or subject true and vital, because it is an essentially new esoteric concept and a germ thought which the many aspirants of the world must grasp. at the same time the aspirant must realise that the ideas are of no real importance to him as an individual to you, therefore, as an individual and pledged disciple. as long as your state of awareness lays emphasis upon the fact of your individuality, the group idea cannot take form as a group ideal. the sense of separativeness is still present. it is a sense which has been laboriously developed under evolutionary

discipleship in the new age- volume ii copyright 1998 lucis trust the interrelation and eventual transference of energy from the personality (symbolised by the solar plexus) to the soul (symbolised by the heart centre) and from the soul to the monad (symbolised by the head centre. these correspondences are of value as they are an argument for the factual nature of the process and they also enable the aspirant to grasp somewhat the nature of the undertaking to which he is committed. certain aspects of relationship, therefore, emerge into the consciousness of the disciple and at this point in his training the following four relations are of major importance: 1. the relation of the energies, found below the diaphragm and corresponding to the personality life (motivated by desire, and the high

in the case of the average aspirant, practically entirely quiescent and only become a realised activity as the soul establishes increasing control over the disciple. 2. the relation between the two points within the solar plexus itself. these are symbolic also of the personality-soul relationship. one point is awakened, as to the lower life of man; the other point is awakening, as in the case of the aspirant, or is totally awakened as is the case of the pledged disciple, prior to the second initiation. 3. the relation between the solar plexus and the heart. this is of great importance and serves to clarify the mind of the aspirant because it is symbolic again of the immediate present problem of the personality and the soul. 4. the relation between the ajna centre (between the eyebrows) an

ALICE A BAILEY23 THE EXTERNALISATION OF THE HIERARCHY

we should cease to consult and train our psychics and mediums, but that we should train them rightly and guard them intelligently and so link, through their means, the two worlds of the physical and the astral*(1) ii. esoteric schools and disciplines our second question relates to the work of the esoteric schools or "disciplines" as they are sometimes called, and the training and safeguarding of the aspirants found working in them. i would like first of all to make one point clear. the great hindrance to the work of the majority of the esoteric schools at this time is their sense of separateness and their intolerance of other schools and methods. the leaders of these schools need to absorb the following fact. all schools which recognise the influence of the trans-himalayan lodge and whose

mself of the safeguards offered and the experience of the older students. the emphasis in all esoteric schools is necessarily, and rightly, laid upon meditation. technically speaking, meditation is the process whereby the head centre is awakened, brought under control and used. when this is the case, the soul and the personality are coordinated and fused, and at-one-ment takes place, producing in the aspirant a tremendous inflow of spiritual energy, galvanising his whole being into activity, and bringing to the surface the latent good and also evil. herein lies much of the problem and much of the danger. hence also the stress laid in such true schools upon the need of purity and truth. over-emphasis has been laid upon the need for physical purity, and not sufficient emphasis laid upon the

re and due safeguards, and under direction, and when the process is spread over a long period of time there is little risk of danger, and the awakening will take place normally and under the law of being itself. if, however, the tuning up and awakening is forced, or is brought about by exercises of various kinds before the student is ready and before the bodies are coordinated and developed, then the aspirant is headed towards disaster. breathing exercises or pranayama training should never be undertaken without expert guidance and only- 12- the externalisation of the hierarchy copyright 1998 lucis trust after years of spiritual application, devotion and service; concentration upon the centres in the force body (with a view to their awakening) is ever to be avoided; it will cause overstimu

no thought which could poison or produce misunderstanding, and which does no action which could hurt the least of his brethren this is the main virtue which will enable the esoteric student to tread with safety the difficult path of development. where the emphasis is laid upon service to one's fellowmen and the trend of the life force is outward to the world, then there is freedom from danger and the aspirant can safely meditate and aspire and work. his motive is pure, and he is seeking to decentralise his personality and shift the focus of his attention away from himself to the group. thus the life of the soul can pour through him, and express itself as love to all beings. he knows himself to be a part of a whole and the life of that whole can flow through him consciously, leading him to

n's mental development) withdrew behind the scenes for a period. if this spiritual contact can be brought- 14- the externalisation of the hierarchy copyright 1998 lucis trust about, it means that the hierarchy will no longer be hidden and unknown, but will be recognised as present upon the physical plane. this would at first be necessarily on a small scale, and the recognition will be confined to the aspirants and disciples. increasingly the new group of world servers will be active in every nation and found functioning throughout the entire world. the two thoughts which i seek to impress upon your minds are, first, the re-establishing of this closer relation, and secondly, the work of a practical kind that each of you can do to bring about this general recognition. i seek to emphasise the

elf-conscious. this process will make of its members cultural aspirants, with a new sense of values, with a recognition of spiritual objectives and with a developed ability to make them the moulders of public opinion. they will then be the most important group, expressing the culture of the new age. they will set the standard of values for the masses. 3. the education of the advanced thinkers, of the aspirants and world disciples in applied knowledge, expressed wisdom and occult understanding. this group synthesises all that is available in the other two groups and thus forms the nucleus of the kingdom of god, of the fifth kingdom which is so rapidly coming into being. i cannot do more than indicate these points, for their proper theme and their elucidation will be dealt with in the group'

ALICE A BAILEY24 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME V THE RAYS AND THE INITIATIONS

ave you. work, my brothenacopyright 1998 lucis trust the rays and the initiations a treatise on the seven rays volume v by alice a. bailey copyright 1960 by lucis trust copyright renewed 1988 by lucis trust part one the fourteen rules for group initiation preliminary remarks it might be here of value, my brothers, if i again laid emphasis upon the fact that the formless world is only entered when the aspirant has acquired somewhat the capacity to center himself on the abstract levels of the mental plane. this involves necessarily certain developments within the aspirant's own nature. the demanded contact would otherwise be impossible. what is needed is self-exertion, the resultant developments of which might be touched upon as follows: i. the repolarisation of the entire lower man so that

nd curious position, being simply the vehicle for prana or life and the centre which it uses exists in a category by itself. 3. all subhuman forms in their aggregate prove a powerful deterrent factor in the progress towards emancipation of the real man. they form the opposite to what we understand by the world of the master and the two are in direct opposition to each other from the standpoint of the aspirant. the adept can enter the world of form, can contact it, work in it and remain unaffected by it because there is nothing in him to respond to it. he sees through the illusion to the reality behind and, knowing where he stands himself, there is naught in the appeal and the demand of these lunar lords to attract him. he stands midway between the pairs of opposites. in the realisation of

nd, knowing where he stands himself, there is naught in the appeal and the demand of these lunar lords to attract him. he stands midway between the pairs of opposites. in the realisation of the nature of this world of form, in a comprehension of the lives which compose it, and in an ability to hear the voice of the "formless one" above the strife of all the lower voices, comes the opportunity for the aspirant to escape from the dominance of matter. this is the true magical work, my brothers, the understanding of the sounds of all beings, and the ability to speak the language of the soul is the clue to the work. these faculties rightly used impose upon these lesser lives that control which will lead to the final liberation, and which will- 6- a treatise on the seven rays- volume v: the rays

ay, but basically it leads to an unalterably staunch loyalty, underlying the surface of the outer life. the master's influence, as he seeks to aid his disciple, always produces transitory turmoil transitory from the angle of the soul, but frequently appalling from the angle of the personality. similarly, the projection of the life and influence of any senior disciple into the periphery or aura of the aspirant or lesser disciple is in its degree likewise disturbing and upsetting; this is a point which should be carefully borne in mind, both as regards the disciple's own reactions and training, and as regards any effect which he may call forth in the life of a probationary disciple or lesser disciple in his own sphere of influence. these intrusive influences and their consequent effects whic

eir consequent effects which are produced upon an individual or a group by a master or a senior disciple are usually interpreted in personality terms, and are very little understood. they are nevertheless aspects of the higher will in some higher disciple and are beating upon the personality will and evoking the sacrificial will of the ego, and hence lead to a period of temporary discomfort. this the aspirant and the inexperienced disciple resent and blame the evoking sources for their discomfort, instead of- 21- a treatise on the seven rays- volume v: the rays and the initiations copyright 1998 lucis trust learning the needed lesson of receiving and handling force. where, however, real love exists, it will produce the lessening of the personality will, the evocation of the sacrificial ego

ht into play when the bridging antahkarana is beginning to play its part. hence the teaching which i am giving on the construction of the rainbow bridge. these rules are in reality great formulas of approach, but they indicate approach to a specific section of the path and not approach to the initiator. i would have you reflect upon this distinction. the "way of the higher evolution" lies open to the aspirant to the greater- 22- a treatise on the seven rays- volume v: the rays and the initiations copyright 1998 lucis trust mysteries, but he is oft bewildered in the beginning and frequently questions in his mind the difference between the progress or evolution of the personality towards soul consciousness and the nature of the progress which lies ahead and which is essentially different to

ALICE BAILEY THE LABOURS OF HERCULES

y, and the devil comes to an untimely end. and this as the reward of a meek submission to the will of an inscrutable creator. there is, however, dawning on the human consciousness, a growing realization of innate divinity and that man is in very truth made in the image of god, and one in nature with his father in heaven. the idea of purpose and of plan is being grasped, and the entire attitude of the aspirant towards life is rapidly changing. surely it should now be possible to gain such a synthetic picture of the progress of the soul from ignorance to wisdom, from material desire to spiritual achievement that the end may be visioned from the beginning and intelligent cooperation with soul purpose take the place of blind endeavor? when this comes about, the pilgrim can proceed upon his way

h soul purpose take the place of blind endeavor? when this comes about, the pilgrim can proceed upon his way with his face turned towards the light, and irradiated with joy. the story of the dramatic experiences of that great and ancient son of god, hercules- 6- the labours of hercules or herakles, will be found to give us just such a synthetic picture. it leaves untouched no phase in the life of the aspirant and yet links him up with cosmic enterprise. its theme will be found to be so inclusive that all of us, struggling in our present modern life, can make application to ourselves of the tests and trials, the failures and achievements of this heroic figure, who strove, centuries ago, towards the same goal as we do. through a reading of his story, fresh interest may be evoked in the mind

eroic figure, who strove, centuries ago, towards the same goal as we do. through a reading of his story, fresh interest may be evoked in the mind of the bewildered aspirant, and such a picture painted of universal sequential development and destiny that he will go forward with fresh courage. we shall trace the story of hercules and endeavor to show how he, in his twelve labors, played the part of the aspirant upon the path of discipleship. on it, he undertook certain tasks, symbolic in nature, and passed through certain episodes and events which portray for all time the nature of the training and attainments which characterize the man who is nearing liberation. he stands for the incarnated, yet not perfected, son [5] of god, who definitely takes the lower nature in hand and willingly subje

man perfection underlies his willingness to make the attempt to tread the path. this perfection can be attained in two ways. it can be the result of slow and steady evolutionary growth, carried forward under nature's laws, cycle after cycle, until gradually the hidden god can be seen in man and in the universe. or, it can be the result [6] of systematized application and discipline on the part of the aspirant, producing a more rapid unfoldment of the power and life of the soul. in one analysis of discipleship, it has been defined as "a psychic resolvent, which eats- 7- the labours of hercules away all dross and leaves only the pure gold behind" it is a process of refining, of sublimation and of transmutation, carried steadily forward until at length the mount of transfiguration and of illu

h here, but form the subject of another book (from bethlehem to calvary) as we study the story of hercules and go with him through his twelve labors, passing around the great zodiac of the heavens, we will approach it from two angles: that of the individual aspirant and that of humanity as a whole. it is now possible to regard the human family as having reached, practically en masse, the stage of the aspirant, the stage of the intelligent seeker, the stage of the man who, having developed his mind and coordinated his abilities, mental, emotional and physical, has exhausted the interests of the phenomenal world, and is looking for a way out into a wider realm of awareness, and into a more sure sphere of undertakings. this stage has always [9] been expressed by the advanced individuals down

objectives have to be completely changed and eliminated, and we shall find hercules learning the lesson that to grasp anything for the separated self is no part of the mission of a son of god. he has to find himself as an individual, only to discover that individualism must be sacrificed intelligently to the good of the group. he discovers likewise that personal greed has no place in the life of the aspirant who is seeking liberation from the ever recurring cycle of existence and the constant crucifixion upon the cross of matter. the characteristics of the man immersed in form life and under the rule of matter are fear, individualism, competition and greed. these have to give place to spiritual confidence, cooperation, group awareness and selflessness. this is the lesson that hercules bri

ANALYSIS OF THE 5 6 INITIATION

te is dead already, unless osirified, he too must be slain. like christ, he must be stripped and flogged, and placed on the cross of suffering. but first, he enters. at this point, the second adept is still horus. the third adept is now anubis. hodos, or the introducing adept, is themis. themis is a greek goddess of justice. she is titan like, thus she fits better than maat. anubis now challenges the aspirant who exalteth his ego and lower self with proclamations. the aspirant is seeking the kingdom of heaven by horus and force. horus, the chief guardian of the sacred tomb will not allow him to enter the tomb. the sword and the serpent are presented unto the aspirant who is now clothed in black to show his uninitiated state and the darkness in which he lives and dies. his hands are bound w

ent and the flaming sword represent wisdom and strength. the slow and subtle movement of the serpent and the rush of the lightening flash portray opposites in harmony and wisdom. this is the conjoining of the ankh and zauir anpin in a h i h v h= 32= the paths and the sephiroth in total. the second adept proceeds to lead a potent prayer that is designed to bring the first formulation of light into the aspirant. the prayer begins "and the \yhla jwr moved upon the face of the waters" the prayer is an invocation unto the higher. 6 the hands of the aspirant are then unbound and the lesson of humility is again reinforced deeper; once in the twenty-one hours of darkness and now. the chains are placed around tud, the neck region. this is a scolding of death, for it will be remembered that tud prev

d upon the face of the waters" the prayer is an invocation unto the higher. 6 the hands of the aspirant are then unbound and the lesson of humility is again reinforced deeper; once in the twenty-one hours of darkness and now. the chains are placed around tud, the neck region. this is a scolding of death, for it will be remembered that tud prevents the lower will from uniting with the higher will. the aspirant the candidate hangs on the black cross of suffering. although black is symbolic of evil, in this instance, it is also the charging or flashing color of white. as the candidate hangs upon the cross the arrow of i within the aspirant is formulated upward into trapt. all has been done to bring the aspirant to a state of equilibrium (see the 14th key in the portal initiation. the three, t

cross of suffering. although black is symbolic of evil, in this instance, it is also the charging or flashing color of white. as the candidate hangs upon the cross the arrow of i within the aspirant is formulated upward into trapt. all has been done to bring the aspirant to a state of equilibrium (see the 14th key in the portal initiation. the three, the seven, and the twelve are bound as one in the aspirant. the rose of the aspirant is formulated- twenty-two petals, the five grades preceeding love forged this cross. the aspirant is now in touch with his yechidah (in rtk only as yet. the crucifixion on the cross of pain and suffering has served the candidate well in that now he is equilibriated. the invocation of h v a follows after the obligation/oath is taken. it is divided into ten par

ll in that now he is equilibriated. the invocation of h v a follows after the obligation/oath is taken. it is divided into ten parts. the rtk of the candidate who is speaking binds the lower nine. it is a most sacred oath, never to be forgotten. next, themis commemorates the life and death of osiris. the symbolic archetype of christian rosenkruetz, the founder of our order, is now that of osiris. the aspirant is now in a state of mourning. it is the mourning of isis. recall that the aspirant is dead, having been crucified on the cross. the rose cross is pointed out as a symbol of the completion of the great work, though it may be several years before the aspirant fully understands the mysteries of the sublime and sacred symbol. next, the tomb is discovered. this is the tomb of the initiate

the returning light from god to man, and man back to god. the light is fixed in the vault with the sign of lvx. second point of the 5=6 ceremony symbols of trapt are used to open the vault; three words consisting of three, four, and five letters each. it should be carefully noted that there is an interchange between the three chiefs throughout the entire initiation. all now repeat lvx signs with the aspirant. the aspirant is bearing the chief adept wand and crux ansanta. this allows him safe passage within the gate of isis of the seven-sided vault, the door of c. upon entrance, the trampling down of the forces of evil takes place. at one time, that same evil the aspirant tramples down on was his support and foundation in the physical world. the aspirant now stands in the vault of seven si

BLUE EQUINOX

account of the history of the a.a. in recent times. this history contains no mythology: it is a statement of facts susceptible of rational proof. liber cl. de lege libellum. a short explanation of the law, extolling its sublime virtue. by the master therion. liber lxv. the book of the heart girt with a serpent. this magical treatise describes particularly the pr monstrance of a.a. 13 relation of the aspirant with his higher self. it is, alike in conception and execution, a masterpiece of exaltation of thought, carved in pure beauty. liber vii. the book of lapis lazuli. gives in magical language an account of the initiation of a master of the temple. this is the only parallel, for beauty of ecstasy, to liber lxv. liber xxvii. vel trigrammaton. it describes the course of creation under the

n dee (queen elizabeth.s astrologer) and sir edward kelly. liber cmxxxiv. the cactus. an elaborate study of the psychological effects produced by anhalonium lewinii (mescal buttons, compiled from the actual records of some hundreds of experiments; with an explanatory essay. liber cclxv. the structure of the mind. a treatise on psychology from the mystic and magical standpoint. its study will help the aspirant to make a detailed scientific analysis of his mind, and so to learn to control it. liber ccclxv. the preliminary invocation of the goetia so-called, with a complete explanation of the barbarous names of evocation used therein, and the secret rubrick of the ritual, by the master therion. this is the most potent invocation extant, and was used by the master himself in his attainment. li

y be apparently axiomatic. the general object of this course, besides that already stated, is to assure sound education in occult matters, so that when spiritual illumination comes it may find a well-built temple. when the mind is strongly biased towards any special theory, the result of an illumination is often to inflame that portion of the mind which is thus overdeveloped, with the result that the aspirant, instead of becoming an adept, becomes a bigot and fanatic. the a.a. does not offer examination in this course, but reccomends these books as the foundation of a library. section 2. other books, principally fiction, of a generally suggestive and helpful kind zanoni, by sir edward bulwer lytton. valuable for its facts and suggestions about mysticism. a strange story, by sir edward bulw

tood as the foundation of the aspiration of the adept. the account of the master of the templi should in particular be taken as authentic. the instruction in the 8th thyr pertains to class d, i.e. it is an official ritual, and the same remarks apply to the account of the proper method of invoking thyrs given in the 18th thyr. liber lxv. liber cordis cincti serpente. an account of the relations of the aspirant with his holy guardian angel. this book is given to probationers, as the attainment of the knowledge and conversation of the holy guardian angel is the crown of the outer college. similarly liber vii is given to neophytes, as the grade of master of the temple is the next resting-place, and liber ccxx to the zelator, since that carries him to the highest of all possible grades. liber x

d publications. instructions given for elementary study of the qabalah, assumption of god forms, vibrations of divine names, the rituals of curriculum of a.a. 29 pentagram and hexagram, and their uses in protection and invocation, a method of obtaining astral visions so called, and an instruction in the practice called rising on the planes. liber ix. liber e vel exercitiorum. this book instructs the aspirant in the necessity of keeping a record. suggests methods of testing physical clairvoyance. gives instruction in asana, pranayama and dharana, and advises the application of tests to the physical body, in order that the student may thoroughly understand his own limitations. liber xxx. liber libr. an elementary course of morality suitable for the average man. liber lxi. liber caus. the pr

ind place in the class d publications. instructions given for elementary study of the qabalah, assumption of god forms, vibrations of divine names, the rituals of pentagram and hexagram, and their uses in protection and invocation, a method of obtaining astral visions so called, and an instruction in the practice called rising on the planes. liber ix. liber e vel exercitiorum. this book instructs the aspirant in the necessity of keeping a record. suggests methods of testing physical clairvoyance. gives instruction in asana, pranayama and dharana, and advises the application of tests to the physical body, in order that the student may thoroughly understand his own limitations. liber xcvi. liber gaias. a handbook of geomancy. gives a simple and fairly satisfactory system of geomancy. liber l

DICTIONARY GLOSSARY OF OCCULT TERMINOLOGY

rough those who affirm satan 40 and those who ignore this force. it is very much a part of us and a model for that which we may become. choose your models well, for you may become just as they. suggested reading by michael w. ford azothot glossary of terminology for the grade of aspirant (0=0) of the order of the astral star. within this document the reader will find most all of the terms used in the aspirant's course curriculum for the 0ro degree. when the writer was asked to assemble this dictionary for the order, he really had no idea what was in store for him. the writer has tried to be fair to the many different traditions and religions which the terminology covers while maintaining the validity from the perspective of his own order, and his own experiences. this list comes from his o

er of the astral star's own bibliography for aspirant. the main glossaries used were from donald michael kraig's modern magick: eleven lessons in the high ceremonial arts; donald tyson's ritual magic: what it is and how to do it; denning and phillips' the llewellyn practical guide to the development of psychic powers; and the llewellyn practical guide to creative visualization. the other works of the aspirant bibliography were used to augment the material in these works. additionally, the writer consulted the webster's new world dictionary for determining the root etymology of some entries. why is this work so important? aleister crowley was said to have advised a student at one time "madame, define your terms" in the preface of aleister crowley's magick without tears, dr. israel regardie

DION FORTUNE MYSTICAL QABALA

ll of the cosmic tides. 16. each symbol upon the tree represents a cosmic force or factor. when the mind concentrates upon it, it comes into touch with that force; in other words, a .urface channel, a channel in consciousness, has been made between the conscious mind of the individual and a particular factor in the world-soul, and through this channel the waters of the ocean pour into the lagoon. the aspirant who uses the tree as his meditation-symbol establishes point by point the union between his soul and the world-soul. this results in a tremendous access of energy to the individual soul; it is this which endows it with magical powers. 17. but just as the universe must be ruled by god, so must the many-sided soul of man be ruled by its god-the spirit of man. the higher self must domina

trol of the will, directed by the higher [page 246] intelligence, those developed reaction-capacities which have hitherto only responded blindly to their appropriate stimuli. 19. be it well noted that it is only in proportion as our capacities for reaction are lifted out of the sphere of emotional reflexes and brought under rational control that we can make of them magical powers. it is only when the aspirant) having the capacity to respond on all planes to the call of venus) can easily and without effort refrain at will from responding, that he can be made an initiate of the sphere of netzach. this is why it is said of the adept that he has the use of all things, hut is dependent upon nothing. 20. these concepts are shadowed forth for those who have eyes to see in the symbolism of hod. th

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

ersia and egypt. the bektash sufis offer a representative example of the dervishes. in the fifteenth century bektash of bokhara received his mantle from ahmed yesevee, who claimed descent from the father- in-law of mohammed. bektash established a path to spiritual truth consisting nominally of seven degrees, only four of which, however, were essential. these aimed to establish an affinity between the aspirant and the sheik, the latter leading the aspirant, through the agency of the spirit of bektash, and that of mohammed, to allah. the initiation ceremony provided a severe test. the aspirant was tried for a year with false secrets. when his time of probation expired, a lamb was slain, from the carcass of which a cord was made for his neck and a girdle for his loins. two armed attendants th

secrets. when his time of probation expired, a lamb was slain, from the carcass of which a cord was made for his neck and a girdle for his loins. two armed attendants then led him into a square chamber, where he was presented to the sheik as a slave who desires to know truth. he was then placed before a stone altar, on which were 12 scallops. the sheik, attended by 11 others, gripped the hand of the aspirant in a particular way and administered the oath of the order, in which the neophyte promised to be poor, chaste, and obedient. the aspirant was then informed that the penalty for betraying the order was death. he then stated, mohammed is my guide, ali [mohammed s son-in-law] is my director, and was asked by the sheik, do you accept me as your guide? the reply being made in the affirmati

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

g classes i have mentioned are placed the malignant daemons, the anti-gods. each spiritual order has gifts of its own to bestow on the initiated who evoke them. the gods confer health of body, power and purity of mind, and, in short, elevate and restore our natures to their proper principles. angels and archangels have at their command only subordinate bestowments. demons, however, are hostile to the aspirant, afflict both body and mind, and hinder our escape from the sensuous. principalities, who govern the sublunary elements, confer temporal advantages. those of a lower rank, who preside over matter, often display their bounty in material gifts. souls that are pure are, like angels, salutary in their influence. their appearance encourages the soul in its upward efforts. heroes stimulate

cation through spiritual disciplines in order to give integrity to spiritual growth or eventual transcendental consciousness. traditional hindu mysticism regards meditation as a later stage in the program of continuing spiritual discipline, and passive meditation is considered secondary to active meditation in quality and results. moreover mantra-diksha, or initiation, is not normally given until the aspirant has proven his or her fitness to engage in meditation. hinduism also reserves its highest transcendental experiences for those who have properly fulfilled their social and religious obligations. criticisms aside, the five million tm participants (as asserted by the program) seem to attest to the everyday value of tm as a simple, natural means of relaxation and a feeling of wellbeing

FELDMAN DANIEL QABALAH THE MYSTICAL HERITAGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

e ruach haqodesh in the heart sefirah beauty/last is accompanied by great bliss. the individuated consciousness sustains the constant and exclusive experience of its chosen small face ideal. this vision often filters down through the astral senses of the geviyah, so that the chosen ideal is seen and heard. attachment to the bliss experience of small face in the ruach haqodesh must be renounced if the aspirant is to further ascend the tree. at that point, the experience may deepen further into the formless world of b riyah through sefirah beauty/last, or continue to move up the central column of the tree. the gate of the gimel g is a mirror upon which collects the residue of karmic impressions (san. samskaras) of many lifetimes. hence, in the beginning stages, when we move consciously into

divine. it is to that divine source that we should ultimately cling and offer our unconditional devotion. thus, there is the injunction to get off your gatekeeper s back, because that guide is only the one who is pointing you to the open gate and urging you to go through it. this is wonderfully framed in zen buddhism by the story of the roshi who points to the moon with his finger, and admonishes the aspirant not to confuse the finger with the moon. in regard to a simple routine of meditation practice, having calmed the mind with a short period of breathing as described above, the meditator would then commence the repetition (zakhor, remembrance) of the root mantra that appeals to their mind. earlier, a number of the root mantra found in the torah were highlighted, including ani hvhy and t

tion toward your chosen ideal, seeing the whole world and all beings as one s own, renunciation of the fruits of work, the desire to engage in selfless service, etc. the experience of ananda samadhi with the small face chosen ideal is generally the goal of small face yoga. this experience will permanently establish the fractal reprogramming of the cerebral cortex. the spiritually awakened mind of the aspirant is firmly stationed in the awareness that the manifest creation is a unity in their small face chosen ideal, even in the waking state of sefirah kingdom. generally, one so established will have a particular bhava, or devotional mood, toward small face. it may be that of servant to the lord as divine master or king/queen, child to the lord as divine parent, parent to the lord as divine

kali, samadhi experiences will initiate in the dream state in yetzirah. this dream state samadhi is called shushupta samadhi in sanskrit. individuals who have such experiences open in the waking state are rare in these latter days. hence, it is% e2 2 e" 2' 8: h 2" also quite rare to find individuals who sustain bhava samadhis in their waking states. having become firmly established in small face, the aspirant is freed from taking further birth in a human body, and no longer generates new mazal that must be mitigated. he/she has become a tree of perfection after the alef. they will pass through the rest of their life absorbed in their love and devotion for their small face chosen ideal, and engage in service to their lord as embodied in all beings. when the nefesh falls away at the end of t

of small face. however, in practice, most people will find that they are unable to do so. even fewer individuals in these latter days have the innate mental and spiritual constitution to ignore small face completely and engage in solely vast face-centered practices. while small face meditation practices use a process of directed imagination to unite all experiences in the realms of name and form, the aspirant on the path of the tree of perfection after the ayin cultivates dispassion and discrimination to systematically renounce and negate every experience, until the individuated consciousness dissolves in the ayn like a salt doll walking into the ocean. hence, exercises which cultivate discrimination (sanskrit viveka) and one-pointed concentration (sanskrit samyana) are a central element i

FRATER ELIJAH ANGELS OF CHAOS

advice and references along this particular pathway. iii/1a: an automatic drawing of ecstasy. iii/1b: the pain of division burns thee. a face of pain and bliss. burning. iii/2a: when following the pathway of a scarlet brother, when treading congress with the angel. there comes a time of suffering (see detailed above, the rite of suffering. the key is given for unleashing the denizens of hell upon the aspirant (opening the doorway of the abyss, this must be resonated. this is a win or lose situation as demonic forces attempt to tear the initiate apart for the duration of this trial. we see a doorway on it s side in the shape of daleth, with some form of monster coming out of it. iii/2b: this being the first explicit reference to the scarlet brotherhood. and our rejection of the concepts and

s. not to get caught up on trivial things, but we become the living gateways of gnosis as we yearn for truth. this is what we seek: nothing is true; everything is permitted. there is one maze and there are many mazes. iii/4a: buddhism? not quite. desire does trap one in many things. wanting to be a shaper, we cannot be trapped by desire, unless this is in desires needs iii/4b: a warning given for the aspirant. there are many traps and pitfalls along the way. a picture of the goal. iii/5a: another warning. the trials and initiations are of an astral nature (as all true initiations are. the greatest obstacle for the magus is his self. the surrender spoken of is not in a savior sense, but possibly one of the most difficult things to do. iii/5b: a few notes on the nature of the quliphoth, whos

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM BY MAX HEINDEL 2

uch an extent that it becomes a brilliant and luminous fire, the fire of purification and regeneration. this is the field of action of the great spiritual hierarchy from neptune and is designated azoth by the alchemists. this spiritual fire is not alike in every man nor is it as luminous in one as in another. the state thereof depends upon the spiritual advancement of the person in question. when the aspirant to the higher life had been instructed in these mysteries of symbolism and the time had come to speak to him plainly, the following teachings were communicated to him, not necessarily in these words nor in this manner. but at any rate he was given to understand and it was made clear to him that-"anatomically man belongs to the animals, and that below that kingdom in the scale of evolu

coin of self-denial and self-sacrifice. therefore, seek the temple door and you shall find it; knock and it shall be opened unto you. if you seek prayerfully, if you knock persistently and if you labor manfully you will in time reach the goal and you will become the philosopher's stone. celibacy and marriage in order to avoid misunderstanding, it should be said that this lesson was only given to the aspirant to discipleship to show him the reason why it is necessary for him to live a pure and chaste life. it does not apply to the masses who have no spiritual aspirations and are as yet unable to restrain their passions. the rosicrucians do not even advocate an entirely celibate life for their pupils; indeed they regard it as a religious duty for the enlightened mystic, man or woman, to wed

FULLER J F C SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

a prince has thou power with god and with men [as above so beneath] and hast prevailed [attained to the spiritual vision. jacob then asks of him his name, but the wrestler is silent because his name cannot be pronounced. and jacob called the name of the place peniel, for i have seen god face to face and my life [reason] is preserved. this ordeal, it will be seen, is of a three-fold nature. first, the aspirant must equilibrate all the opposite forces within him, and not merely those he considers vicious. secondly, he must cut himself away from all outward things and influences and meditate on the spirit he desires to unite with. thirdly, he must persevere, that is wrestle with this spirit. these three acts will lead him to the vision of god, the world soul, a spark of which burns within him

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

, air and water; but these are doubtful authenticity, for so many mithraic caves were of too small a size to make it possibletocarry out elaborate tests.1. the1stgrade ofraven;its name was due to this bird being sacred to the sun.2. the 2ndgradeofgryphiushas been called the man of the secret or the occult man.3. in the 3rd grade of milesor soldier we know from tertullian that a crown was offeredtothe aspirant, who refused it saying,'no,mithras is my crown, and he never after could wear a garland on the head.4. in the 4thgradeofthe lionwe read that the aspirant's hands and lips were anointed with honey, the food of the blessed in heaven; this association of the lion with the bee and honey reminds us of the riddle of sampson; see judges xiv.5.the 5thgradeofperses,conferred the special cap of

GILBERT THE SORCERER AND HIS APPRENTICE

of the ancients in each point of our zelator grade, are pregnant with meaning. in the one they are arranged in a column,as inleadingthe candidate from the west to the east.in the second point, however,asifthey had then finished their officein thisrespect,they are placed at the cardinal points, apparently to mark still further, yet in a secret manner, some particular relations of thearmsofacrossto the aspirant, who standsin thecentreafthatcross,with his arms extended in the form of the same mystic symbol, and is made to say at the same time that he is then standing in the 'centre of the earth; just as the greeks were told thatforthemdelphi represented<>o(lepot'ao,.tljt;yij'.alsothe 4 ancients preside over the four elements of air, fire, water and earth; or as the teaching of occultism would

s mostthe symbolism of the 4 ancients 21fymbollsmofthecourseof thezelatorpastthe4aticiehtseastfire.it .july.,redwate:r.mi.,3ai.anr.imt.oeeritblueair.2!!lanl'ient;jan, 225yellowwest.nwnj.nv',u",vmz255.;u":u22thesorcerer and his apprenticeevident. in the scorpion,inoctober..come the water floods, andin.aquarius,injanuary, come the keen and biting winds,ofwhich the element air is the type. note that the aspirant is led, asitwere backwards,up theseasonsin his course past thefrom \vest toe.ast.i.,i. but the' hebrew rabbis said that the divine namej"nrrihvh rushesthroughthe.foreac.hletter presides oyer an element-yod over fire, he over water, vau over air, andhepvereltrth,andthattherefore he who could pronounce itwould make both heaven andearthtotterandquake,seeing that he would have used the, c

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS Z1

arer of the way for the enterer. therefore she is the reconciler between light and darkness, and the mediator between the stations of hierophant and hiereus. the symbols and insignia of the hegemon are: the robe of pure whiteness, bearing on the left breast a red cross. the mitre-headed sceptre. the lamen suspended from a black collar. the robe represents the spiritual purity which is required in the aspirant to the mysteries, and without which qualification none can pass between the eternal pillars. it represents the divine light which is attracted thereby and brought to the aid of the candidate. it symbolizes the self sacrifice that is offered for another to aid him in the attainment of the light. it also signifies the atonement of error; the preparer of the pathway unto the divine. upon

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS Z2

ate to the form that he may retain it under his proper control and guidance. v. he states clearly to the form what he intends to do with it. w. similar to the w.section of invisibility, save that the conjurations, etc, are to be made to the appropriate plane of the form instead of to hnyb. 14 c spiritual development a. the sphere of sensation. b. the augoeides. c. the sephiroth, etc. employed. d. the aspirant, or natural man. e. the equilibration of the symbols. f. the invocation of the higher. the limiting and controlling of the lower and the closing of the material senses to awaken the spiritual. g. attempting to make the natural man grasp the higher by first limiting the extent to which mere intellect can help him herein and then by purification of his thoughts and desires. in doing thi

sp the higher by first limiting the extent to which mere intellect can help him herein and then by purification of his thoughts and desires. in doing this let him formulate himself as standing between the pillars of o and cloud. h. the aspiration of the whole natural man towards the higher self, and a prayer for light and guidance through his higher self, addressed to the lord of the universe. i. the aspirant affirms aloud his earnest prayer to obtain divine guidance, kneels at the west of the altar in the position of the candidate in the enterer, and at the same time astrally projects his consciousness to the east of the altar, and turns, facing his body to the west, holding astrally his own left hand with his astral left. he raises his astral right hand holding the presentment of his lot

kneels at the west of the altar in the position of the candidate in the enterer, and at the same time astrally projects his consciousness to the east of the altar, and turns, facing his body to the west, holding astrally his own left hand with his astral left. he raises his astral right hand holding the presentment of his lotus and by the white portion thereof, and raised in the air erect. j. let the aspirant now slowly recite an oration unto the gods and unto the higher self (as that of the second adept in the entering of the vault, but as if with his astral consciousness which is projected to the east of the altar. note: if at this point the aspirant should feel a sensation as of faintness coming on, let him at once withdraw the projected aura and properly master himself before proceedin

ite an oration unto the gods and unto the higher self (as that of the second adept in the entering of the vault, but as if with his astral consciousness which is projected to the east of the altar. note: if at this point the aspirant should feel a sensation as of faintness coming on, let him at once withdraw the projected aura and properly master himself before proceeding any further) k. then let the aspirant pass unto the north, and facing east solemnly repeat the oration of the hierophant, as before endeavoring to project the speaking conscious self to the place of the hierophant (in this case, to the throne of the east. then, let him slowly mentally formulate before him the eidolon of a great angel torch-bearer, standing before him as if to lead and light the way. l. following it, let t

ide of the divine ideal, and then to the severity thereof. let him then imagine himself as standing between two great pillars of o and cloud, whose bases indeed are buried in black ever rolling clouds of darkness, which symbolizes the chaos of the world of hycu, but whose summits are lost in glorious light undying, penetrating unto the white glory of the throne of the ancient of days. m. now does the aspirant move unto the west, faces southeast, and repeats alike the speeches of hiereus and hegemon. 15 n. after another circumambulation, the adept aspirant halts at the south and repeats the meditation in l. o. he passes unto the east, and repeats alike the words of the hierophant and the hegemon. p. let him pass to the west of the altar, ever led by the angel torchbearer. he projects his as

the south and repeats the meditation in l. o. he passes unto the east, and repeats alike the words of the hierophant and the hegemon. p. let him pass to the west of the altar, ever led by the angel torchbearer. he projects his astral, and he implants therein his consciousness, and his body kneels when his soul passes between the pillars. he prayeth the great prayer of the hierophant. q. now does the aspirant s soul re-enter unto his gross-form. he dreams in divine exstasis of the glory ineffable which is in the bornless beyond. meditating does he arise, and lifts to the heavens, his hands and his eyes, and his hopes and concentrating his will on the glory, low murmurs he the mystic words of power. r. so also does he presently repeat the words of the hierophant concerning the lamp of the k

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS Z3

ower of the 42 lettered name in the palaces of hryxz (the gods of which are usually called the great assessors of judgment) the actual evil persona would at once formulate and be able to obsess the jwr of the candidate. for, seeing that at this time, the simulacrum of the higher soul is attracting the neschamah of the candidate, the human will is not as powerful in the jwr for the moment, because the aspirant of the mysteries is now, as it were, divided. in other words, his neschamah is directed to the contemplation of his higher self which is attracted by the hegemon. his natural body is bound and blinded, his jwr is threatened by the simulacrum of the evil persona attracted by omoo-szathan, and a species of shadow of himself is thrown forward to the place of the pillars, where the scales

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ZAM13

strength. as brothers and sisters of the inner light, let us vow always to be strong, for we are the inheritors of a dying world. as we give up ourselves and our hearts, we become the heart of yehashuah, the glory of tiphareth, the reflected light of kether. we shine light on the world, thus giving it life. now, in the divine name of iao, i invoke the great avenging angel hua to lay thy hand upon the aspirant as he/she repeats the solemn obligation of our hidden and secret fraternity of the red rose on the golden cross" obligation "kether: i frater/soror, a member of the body of christ, do this day spiritually bind myself, even as i am now bound physically upon the cross of suffering. chokmah: that i will to the utmost lead a pure and unselfish life, and will prove myself a faithful and de

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ZAM22

ity with my will under the mastery of laykn. i proclaim that through the help of laykn, the spiritual vision of a shall be mine and that it shall help me overcome all obstacles of both a spiritual and material nature so that i may be enabled to do the great work! invocation of the four elements step 1 take up talisman in left hand, circumambulate one time. say: laykn spake unto the exorcist, i am the aspirant to the throne of trapt. i am the intelligence of the sphere of cmc. i have entered the presence of the majesty divine through the power of the mighty name. step 2 after one full circumambulation, stop at the fire tablet. say: before thy body can be filled with the glory of the divine ones in wisdom, it must be potent with the fires of life. step 3 set the talisman before the fire tabl

GOLDEN CHAIN AND THE LONELY ROAD

, a microcosmic quest to ensorcel the all-possible of his or her own self-existence. having successfully passed through the period of tuition and the various ordeals and austerities which it demands, the novitiate is 'summoned- formally entreated to undergo the rite of initiation. the initiation rite is 'the seal of the mysteries' and serves as the focusing context for all that has passed between the aspirant and the initiating power (the initiator in all its forms: the physical teacher, the spiritual guide, the familiars and guardian-spirits of the path, the diverse lessons of praxis, the dreams, visions, and solitary realisations, et alia. all that constitutes the 'initiator' confronts the seeker and guides him into the true circle of the arte magical. in the singular magical act called

d to others. in and of themselves mysteria of this kind are grand initiations serving to convey the lineages of certain spiritual entities or magical techniques. within the higher body of our magical lore, known as 'the gnosis of the crooked path, there are numerous examples of such advanced workings. for example 'the rite of the turnskin. this is an initiatory procedure intending the entrance of the aspirant into the circle of therionic atavisms: the zodiak of living forms. by passing through its ordeals the skin-leaper's arte is impressed upon the flesh; the bestial ancestry of an individual is 'raised, made self-conscious in his sentient physicality; the animal-headed god is realised! another notable example is 'the devil's masquerade: the initiation rite of draku-ezhu, the 'grand famul

als the skin-leaper's arte is impressed upon the flesh; the bestial ancestry of an individual is 'raised, made self-conscious in his sentient physicality; the animal-headed god is realised! another notable example is 'the devil's masquerade: the initiation rite of draku-ezhu, the 'grand famulus' of the crooked path teachings. this particular mystery-rite obtains the meeting, soul to soul, between the aspirant and the deity. in the stream of sabbatic wisdom descended from yelda paterson through zos vel thanatos (austin osman spare, there is a line of transmission facilitated by the 'passing -on' of a spirit-familiar. in its contemporary manifestation this arcanum has itself 'fleshed out' via the medium of a mystery-rite 'the black eagle rite, simply named after the spirit itself. this insta

d of abel, the body of profanity which must be resurrected or re-integrated into the body of cain or the initiatic self. the incorporation of more potent elements into the witches' supper depends wholly upon the rite and its assembly. in solitary rites, it is known that in some forms of old craft an entheogenic elixir has sometimes been used to assist in the creation of the initiatory apotheosis 'the aspirant, after being mentally prepared by his or her sponsor, and drinking of the potion, is left alone to spend the night by three stones that stand overgrown in the centre of the wood (taliesin 'a wood in the west country, published in pentagram, august, 1965. this is somewhat reminiscent of the medieval alpine initiatory potion which provoked its drinker to have 'all of a sudden the sensat

ers' experiences: the leaf retains the tales of the pilgrims once passed by. this is of great use where a specific body of knowledge has become fragmentary and must be restored using magical techniques. sexual means of lineal succession: the agapae of the wise in some traditions of the old craft it is said that initiation into the 'familial group' or clan was firstly by sexual intercourse between the aspirant and the seniormost initiate of the opposite gender. we may conjecture as to the veracity of this. it may have been used to 'bind' an individual into the kinship group, to make them of the one blood. needless to say, we must exhibit great caution in matters so easily abused. regardless of historical provenance, if sexual union is employed as a general means for induction after the form

s generally best confined to higher rites as operated between individuals of suitable adeptship. to write from experience, i was taught that a magister can pass on his power via sexual means only once in his life. this might be to his chosen successor, if female, or to his own consort in the craft. we must also consider that sexual initiation can occur in the dream-state and that the 'consent' of the aspirant may be an irrelevant consideration. it is rather a case of personal sacrifice to the deity. from my knowledge of both male and female adepts in the elder craft, the gods can and will take lovers and by their 'elixirs' convey strange knowledges, far beyond the grasp of mortal aspirations. furthermore, we should also give thought to the transmission of gnosis between adepts via their ow

HOWE THE ALCHEMIST OF THE GOLDEN DAWN

ut of him, i daresay. arnold de villeneuve was a voluminous writer, and i think the ms you mention is not given amongst his works. he is said to have learned ofraymond lully. something may be learned of it, but when these old writers pretend to tell you great secrets, then you may most suspect of them of mystifying. however, altogether you have made a valuable acquisition. it is one of the stages the aspirant has to go through, to have well impressed upon the mystic and for the most part unintelligible jargon in which this art is veiled. you say you should like to see me to have a talk. as you seem so bent upon this, it would be as well, if you could, but i hardly see how it can be done just now. i like your tenacity and perseverance, and i would do all i could to help you. we may,be in lo

ISIS UNVEILED

iquity and of the middle ages. what the hierophant was allowed to see at the last hour is hardly hinted at by them. and yet i^thagoras, plato, plotinus, lambhchus, proclus and many others knew and affirmed their reality [t. e, of these arcane powers. whether in the 'inner temple' or throu^ the study of theurgy carried on privately, or by the sole exertion of a whole life of spiritual labor, they [the aspirants] all obtained the practical proof of such divine possibilities for man, fighting his battle with life on earth to win a life in the eternity. what the last epopteia was is alluded to by plato in phaedrut( 64 .beinginitiatedinthosejfyatertes, which it is lawful to call the most blessed of all mysteries. we were freed from the molestations of evils which otherwise await us in a future

KNOWLEDGE LECTURE FIVE

universal love which would express itself in perfect service to all mankind and which embraces nature both visible and invisible. let him identify himself with the powers of fire, consecrating himself wholly until the burnt sacrifice is consummated and the christ is conceived by the spirit. let him meditate upon the triplicity of fire- its attributes and correspondences. meditation number six let the aspirant meditate upon the cross in its various forms and aspects as shown in the admission badges throughout the grades. let him consider the necessity and prevalence of sacrifice throughout nature and religion. let him realise the saying of the master, whosoever shall save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall save it. except an ear of wheat fall into the ground and

KNOWLEDGE LECTURE ONE

stical meaning of the two pillars called in the ritual the "pillars of hermes" of "seth" and of "solomon" in the 9th chapter of the ritual f the dead they are referred to as the "pillars of shu" the "pillars of the gods of dawning light" and also as "the north and southern columns of the gate of the hall of truth" in the 125th chapter, they are represented by the sacred gateway, the door to which the aspirant is brought when he has completed the negative confession. the archaic pictures on the one pillar are painted in black upon a white ground, and those on the other in white upon a black ground, in order to express the interchange and reconciliation of opposing forces and the eternal balance of light and darkness which gives force to visible nature. the black cubical bases represent dark

alled "posessor of truth controlling the feet" while that on the left is "possessor of strength, binding the male and female animals" the 42 judges of the dead are represented as seated in a long row, and each of them has to be named, and the sin over which he presided has been denied. this chapter describes the introduction of the initiate into the hall of truth by anubis, who, having questioned the aspirant, receives from him an account of his initiation, and is satisfied by his right to enter. he states that he has been taken into the ante-chamber of the temple and there stripped and blind-folded, he had to grope for the entrance of the hall, and having found it he was reclothed and anointed in the presence of the initiated. he is then asked for the pass-words and demands that his soul

LEADBEATER C W THE HIDDEN LIFE IN FREEMASONRY 2E

e three principal virtues, faith, hope and charity. strictly speaking, the standard symbol for charity is a heart, and this does actually appear on some t c b c s instead of the cup; but the cup is the more ancient symbol, and really means much more to us. 281. another and a very beautiful interpretation of the cross upon the ladder is given to us by bro. wilmshurst, who takes it to represent all the aspirants who are engaged in mounting that ladder. he says: 282. each carries his cross, his own cruciform body, as he ascends; the material vesture whose tendencies are ever at cross purposes with the desire of the spirit, and militate against the ascent. thus weighted, each must climb, and climb alone; yet reaching out- as the secret tradition teaches, and the arms of the tilted cross signif

he outer environment that comes to us as the result of the actions that we have done in past lives- come opportunities for progress and sometimes obstacles, which, however, when rightly faced, increase our inward strength. as emerson put it, man learns in this world through tuition and intuition- both externally and internally he is being taught. on the occult path it is still more important that the aspirant shall proceed without impetuosity or reluctance, without rashness or fear. just as one wishing to walk on a line must go neither too slowly nor too fast, so must the candidate proceed on the path which is narrow as the edge of a razor. gfestina lente h might well be taken as his motto. 481. it should be noted that the symbolism of the c c t c requires that whoever conducts the candida

guard the s c s of freemasonry. 494. just inside the door of the lodge stand the s. and j.d.s with crossed w c s, representing thereby the triangular door of the ancient egyption lodge, and also the first of the symbolical portals through which the candidate has to pass. as he stands within that portal the candidate is directed to bow his head as a further token of the humility which should mark the aspirant. from the emblematical point of view the lodge typifies the higher world into which man passes when he leaves this physical plane, so that this first portal represents the gate of death, and in relation to this the bowing of the head signifies that submission to the divine will with which the man should enter upon this new field of life, calm, and ready to receive without agitation wh

of the questions, though quaint, seem self-explanatory, and the various points which they raise have been already considered. 576. the p c g. and the p c w c are then given to the candidate. in connection with these it is interesting to note that a sheaf of corn is often carved on the chair of the w.s.w. as his emblem; and this is probably connected with the fact that an ear of corn was shown to the aspirant as symbolical of the supreme mystery at eleusis, indicating to him at the same time the universality of evolution and the indestructibility of life. gexcept a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. h(*john, xii, 24) it is perhaps worth noting that the p c g c between the first and the second degree indicates the neces

eflected by his devi girija. to transmute the passions of the astral body the f.c. must use his intuitional love that comes from vishnu, the second person, through lakshmi. to conquer the wavering mind and make it a perfect instrument for the higher self, the m.m. must use the power of his thought, the divine activity of brahma, the third person, reflected by saraswati. madame blavatsky said that the aspirant should make a bundle of the lower things and nail them up to the higher self; when he has done this he will have fulfilled the destiny which is indicated for him- he will have stepped with t c s c over his o c g c 722. this allusion is similar to that of the k c s in the three degrees, and in no way affects the fact that the e.a. is at the same time learning to control the emotions, a

. the b c s c is that of a mighty and dignified monarch singling out one upon whom he is about to bestow a favour; the p c l c and the s c of s c give most valuable hints as to what should be the behaviour of the master in the chair, and the s c of a m c of a c and sc c well expresses the courtesy and dignity which should characterize his every action. 742. the mark degree 743. in the mark degree the aspirant is encouraged to add to that general growth which is expected of all masons the disclosure of whatsoever special talent or power he may happen to possess, in order that his abilities may thus be at the disposal of his brethren and be used for the benefit of his lodge, so that such work as passes through his hands may bear upon it the mark of his private characteristics, and thus be re

LEADBEATER CW GLIMPSES OF MASONIC HISTORY

ich was this inscription: the mortal who shall travel over this road without hesitating or looking behind shall be purified by fire, by water, and by air, and if he can surmount the fear of death he shall emerge from the bosom of the earth; he shall revisit the light and claim the right of preparing his soul for the reception of the mysteries of the great goddess isis. 120. the conductor now left the aspirant, warning him that many dangers surrounded and awaited him, and exhorting him to continue unshaken. heavy doors closed behind him, rendering his return impossible. presently he entered a spacious hall filled with flames through which he had to rush with the greatest speed. even when he had passed through this fiery furnace he came to another hall the floor of which was covered with a h

by the priests in charge (who were for the most part members of the three grand lodges, what we now call red masonry existed, as well as the teaching which is now included in our royal arch and kindred degrees, culminating in the splendid quest of the knights of the rose-croix for the lost word, man s true divinity. 168. in the symbolic teaching corresponding to our degree of the holy royal arch the aspirant was taught to clear away from the various levels of his consciousness all the veils which yet obstructed his vision of reality, and then in the power of that vision to recognize for himself the hidden light in every form, however deeply it might be buried and concealed from the eyes of the flesh. this was typified as a journey upwards, during which four veils were passed, and then by

nvestigated by the inner sight, and shown to the student. the whole of what we now call black masonry led up to an explanation of karma as divine justice, this having been preserved for us in shadow in what is now the 31, that of the grand inspector inquisitor commander, whose symbol is a pair of scales. in egypt this pair of scales was taken as an emblem of the perfect balance of divine justice; the aspirant learnt that all the evil and horror associated with the working out of karma was indeed based on perfect justice, although it had appeared as evil to the lesser vision of the profane. 176. thus the first stage of the higher instruction, that of the rose-croix or red masonry, was devoted to the knowledge of good, while the second stage, that of k.h. or black masonry, was devoted to the

e which in sanskrit is called kundalini. it was laid by the hierophant against the back of the candidate, and thus used as a strong magnetic instrument in order to awaken the forces latent within him, and to free the astral body from the physical, so that the candidate might pass in full consciousness to the higher planes. to help him in the efforts that lay before him the priest in this way gave the aspirant some of his own magnetism. this rod of power was of the greatest importance, and we can understand why it was regarded with so much awe when we realize something of its occult potency. 379. there was also the krater or cup, always associated with dionysus, and emblematical of the causal body of man, which has ever been symbolized by a cup filled with the wine of the divine life and lo

l; there was a sudden crash of waters, typifying the deluge, and the murder of dionysus was enacted, his limbs being scattered on the waters. then, amid lamentations, commenced the search of rhea for the remains of dionysus, and the apartments were filled with shrieks and groans, accompanied by the frantic dances of the corybantes. suddenly the body was found, the scene changed to one of joy, and the aspirant was released from his confinement. after that he descended into the infernal regions, where he saw the sufferings of the wicked and the rewards of the good, and afterwards became an epopt or seer- one who could look upon the world from above, see it as a whole, and therefore understand it. among the followers of this bacchic form of the mysteries were the celebrated dionysian artifice

us, while mnaseas refers to their kabiric correspondences. we learn from diogenes laertius and from caesar that the druidic method of instruction was by symbols, enigmas and allegories, and that they taught orally, deeming it unlawful to commit their knowledge to writing. it is said that their ceremonies of initiation required much physical purification and mental preparation. in the first degree the aspirant s symbolical death was represented, and in the third his regeneration from the womb of the giant goddess ceridwin and the committal of the newly-born to the waves in a small boat, symbolical of the ark. their doctrines were similar to those of pythagoras- including reincarnation and the existence of one supreme being. apart from a few stray references in classical authors, we know of

LIBER HAD

ew religious consciousness. berkeley: university of california press, 1976, pp. 180 202. baddeley, gavin. lucifer rising: sin, devil worship and rock n rolci liber h a d svb figvra dlv a. a. publication in class d (for winners of the ordeal x) imprimatur: three flags/axes meaning "neteru. v.v.v.v.v. n. fra a. a. o.m. 7 degree= 4square. 000. this is the book of the cult of the infinite within. 00. the aspirant is nuit. nuit is the infinite expansion of the rose; hadit the infinite concentration of the rood("instruction of v.v.v.v.v) 0. first let the aspirant learn in his heart the second chapter of the book of the law("instruction of v.v.v.v.v) 1. worship "i.e" identify thyself with, nuit, as a lambent flame of blue, all-touching, all-penetrant, her lovely hands upon the black earth, and he

nse, desire you. put on the wings, and arose the coiled splendour within you: come unto me. sing the rapturous love-song unto me! burn to me perfumes! wear to me jewels! drink to me, for i love you! i love you! i am the blue-lidded daughter of sunset; i am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky. to me! to me "this is the second practice of meditation("ccxx. i" 13, 61, 63, 64, 65. 3. let the aspirant apply himself to comprehend hadit as an unextended point clothed with light ineffable. and let him beware lest he be dazzled by that light "this is the first practice of intelligence("ccxx. ii" 2. 4. let the aspirant apply himself to comprehend hadit as the ubiquitous centre of every sphere conceivable "this is the second practice of intelligence("ccxx. i" 2. 5. let the aspirant apply

t the aspirant apply himself to comprehend hadit as the soul of every man, and of every star, conjoining this in his understanding with the word("cxx. i" 2 "every man and every woman is a star" let this conception be that of life, the giver of life, and let him perceive that therefore the knowledge of hadit is the knowledge of death "this is the third practice of intelligence("ccxx. ii" 6. 6. let the aspirant apply himself to comprehend hadit as the magician or maker of illusion, and the exorcist or destroyer of illusion, under the figure of the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. also as the universal soul of motion (this conception harmonises thoth and harpocrates in a very complete and miraculous manner. thoth is both the magus of taro (see lib. 418) and the universal mercury

universal soul of motion (this conception harmonises thoth and harpocrates in a very complete and miraculous manner. thoth is both the magus of taro (see lib. 418) and the universal mercury; harpocrates both the destroyer of typhon and the babe on the lotus. note that the "ibis position" formulates this conception most exactly. ed "this is the fourth practice of intelligence("ccxx. ii" 7. 7. let the aspirant apply himself to comprehend hadit as the perfect, that is not, and solve the mystery of the numbers of hadit and his components by his right ingenium "this is the fifth practice of intelligence("ccxx. ii" 15, 16. 8. let the aspirant, bearing him as a great king, root out and destroy without pity all things in himself and his surroundings which are weak, dirty, or diseased, or otherwis

his components by his right ingenium "this is the fifth practice of intelligence("ccxx. ii" 15, 16. 8. let the aspirant, bearing him as a great king, root out and destroy without pity all things in himself and his surroundings which are weak, dirty, or diseased, or otherwise unworthy. and let him be exceeding proud and joyous "this is the first practice of ethics("ccxx. ii" 18, 19, 20, 21. 9. let the aspirant apply himself to comprehend hadit as the snake that giveth knowledge and delight and bright glory, who stirreth the hearts of men with drunkenness. this snake is blue and gold; its eyes are red, and its spangles green and ultra-violet (that is, as the most exalted form of the serpent kundalini "this is the sixth practice of intelligence("ccxx. ii" 22, 50, 51. 10. let him further ident

and bright glory, who stirreth the hearts of men with drunkenness. this snake is blue and gold; its eyes are red, and its spangles green and ultra-violet (that is, as the most exalted form of the serpent kundalini "this is the sixth practice of intelligence("ccxx. ii" 22, 50, 51. 10. let him further identify himself with this snake "this is the second practice of meditation("ccxx. ii" 22. 11. let the aspirant take wine and strange drugs, according to his knowledge and experience, and be drunk thereof (the aspirant should be in so sensitive a condition that a single drop, perhaps even the smell, should suffice. ed "this is the first practice of magick art("ccxx. ii" 22. 12. let the aspirant concentrate his consciousness in the rood cross set up upon the mountain, and identify himself with i

LIBER COLLEGII SANCTI

s d from a to g a a publication in class d this paper is to be returned to the chancellor of the a a by the neophyte introducing through his zelator. a a publication in class d. imprimatur. d.d.s. pramonstrator. date. no. a a the task of a probationer 0. let any person be received by a neophyte, the latter being responsible to his zelator. 1. the period of probation shall be at least one year. 2. the aspirant to the a a shall hear the lection (liber lxi) and this note of his office; if he will, shall then procure the robe of a probationer; shall choose with deep forethought and intense solemnity a motto. 3. on reception he shall receive the robe, sign the form provided and repeat the oath as appointed, and receive the first volume of the book. 4. he shall commit a chapter of liber lxv to m

LIBER HAD

cation of augoeides h in equinox iv (1, including the two paragraphs previous to gand thus shall he do. h and the two paragraphs following g. into the city of the pyramids. h and with paragraph numbers addheliber had svb figvra dlv v a a publication in class d (for winners of the ordeal x) imprimatur. v.v.v.v.v. n. fra. a a o.m. 7 =4 1 000. this is the book of the cult of the infinite within. 00. the aspirant is nuit. nuit is the infinite expansion of the rose; hadit the infinite contraction of the rood (instruction of v.v.v.v.v) 0. first let the aspirant learn in his heart the second chapter of the book of the law (instruction of v.v.v.v.v) 1. worship, i.e, identify thyself with, nuit, as a lambent flame of blue, all-touching, all-penetrant, her lovely hands upon the black earth, and her

night-sky. to me! to me! this continues the first practice of meditation1 (ccxx. i. 13, 61, 63, 64, 65. 1 [in equinox printing .the second practice of meditation. but section 10 was also said to be the second practice, 12 the third practice, 16 the fourth practice and 25 the fifth practice. combining 1 and 2 into the .first practice. matches the numbering in section 28. t.s] liber h a d 2 3. let the aspirant apply himself to comprehend hadit as an unextended point clothed with a light ineffable. and let him beware lest he be dazzled by that light. this is the first practice of intelligence (ccxx. ii. 2. 4. let the aspirant apply himself to comprehend hadit as the ubiquitous centre of every sphere conceivable. this is the second practice of intelligence (ccxx. ii. 3. 5. let the aspirant ap

the aspirant apply himself to comprehend hadit as the soul of every man, and of every star, conjoining this in his understanding with the word (ccxx. i. 2 .every man and every woman is a star. let this conception be that of life, the giver of life, and let him perceive that therefore the knowledge of hadit is the knowledge of death. this is the third practice of intelligence (ccxx. ii. 6. 6. let the aspirant apply himself to comprehend hadit as the magician or maker of illusion, and the exorcist of destroyer of illusion, under the figure of the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. also as the universal soul of motion (this conception harmonises thoth and harpocrates in a very complete and miraculous manner. thoth is both the magus of tarot (see lib. 418) and the universal mercur

universal soul of motion (this conception harmonises thoth and harpocrates in a very complete and miraculous manner. thoth is both the magus of tarot (see lib. 418) and the universal mercury; harpocrates both the destroyer of typhon and the babe in the lotus. note that the .ibis position. formulates this conception most exactly. ed) this is the fourth practice of intelligence (ccxx. ii. 7. 7. let the aspirant apply himself to comprehend hadit as the perfect, that is not, and solve the mystery of the numbers of hadit and his components by his right ingenium. this is the fifth practice of intelligence (ccxx. ii. 15, 16. 8. let the aspirant, bearing him as a great king, root out and destroy without pity all things in himself and his surroundings which are weak, dirty, or diseased, or otherwis

his right ingenium. this is the fifth practice of intelligence (ccxx. ii. 15, 16. 8. let the aspirant, bearing him as a great king, root out and destroy without pity all things in himself and his surroundings which are weak, dirty, or diseased, or otherwise unworthy. and let him be exceeding proud and joyous. this is the first practice of ethics (ccxx. ii. 18, 19, 20, 21. svb figvra dlv 3 9. let the aspirant apply himself to comprehend hadit as the snake that giveth knowledge and delight and bright glory, who stirreth the hearts of men with drunkenness. this snake is blue and gold; its eyes are red, and its spangles green and ultra-violet (that is, as the most exalted form of the serpent kundalini) this is the sixth practice of intelligence (ccxx. ii. 22, 50, 51) 10. let him further ident

and bright glory, who stirreth the hearts of men with drunkenness. this snake is blue and gold; its eyes are red, and its spangles green and ultra-violet (that is, as the most exalted form of the serpent kundalini) this is the sixth practice of intelligence (ccxx. ii. 22, 50, 51) 10. let him further identify himself with this snake. this is the second practice of meditation (ccxx. ii. 22. 11. let the aspirant take wine and strange drugs, according to his knowledge and experience, and be drunk thereof (the aspirant should be in so sensitive a condition that a single drop, perhaps even the smell, should suffice. ed) this is the first practice of magick art (ccxx. ii. 22. 12. let the aspirant concentrate his consciousness in the rood cross set up upon the mountain, and identify himself with i

LIBER HHH

in the zenith a minute point of light. and this light shall radiate until a right cone be established upon the sea, and it is day. with this thy body shall be rigid, automatically; and this shalt thou let endure, withdrawing thyself into thine heart in the form of an upright egg of blackness; and therein shalt thou abide for a space. 5. when all this is perfectly and easily performed at will, let the aspirant figure to himself a struggle with the whole force of the universe. in this he is only saved by his minuteness. liber hhh sub figura cccxli 3 but in the end he is overthrown by death, who covers him with a black cross. let his body fall supine with arms outstretched. 6. so lying, let him aspire fervently unto the holy guardian angel. 7. now let him resume his former posture. two-and-tw

LIBER LVII

a gig.s a trap; a trap.s a snare; a snare.s a gin; gin.s a spirit; and a spirit.s a ghost. but our identities are not thus false; meditation reveals their truth. further, as i shall explain fully later, 9 is not equal to 1 for the neophyte. these equivalences are dogmatic, and only true by favour of him in whom all is truth. in practice each equivalence is a magical operation to be carried out by the aspirant. part ii the universe as we seek to make it in the first part we have seen all numbers as veils of the one, emanations of and therefore corruptions of the one. it is the universe as we know it, the static universe. now the aspirant to magic is displeased with this state of things. he finds himself but a creature, the farthest removed from the creator, a number so complex and involved

ster templi, too, understands why zero must plunge through all finite numbers to express itself; why it must write itself as .n. n. instead of 0; what gain there is in such writing. and this understanding will be found expressed in liber 418 (episode of chaos and his daughter) and liber legis (i. 28-30. but it must never be forgotten that everyone must begin at the beginning. and in the beginning the aspirant is a rebel, even though he feel himself to be that most dangerous type of rebel, a king dethroned* hence he will worship any number which seems to him to promise to overturn the tree of life. he will even deny and blaspheme the one.whom, after all, it is his ambition to be.because of its simplicity and aloofness. he is tempted to .curse god and die. atheists are of three kinds. 1. the

nda+ hyha+ alga, the four divine names of the lesser ritual of the pentagram. t.s] 65 [the title of a high degree in certain masonic rites, immediately proceeding grand inspector general. sometimes called prince of the royal secret. t.s] 66 [another masonic term, generally denoting the highest degree or ruling council of a particular rite. t.s] 44 liber lviii it is then thoroughly understood that the aspirant is seeking to solve the great problem. and he may conceive, as various schools of adepts in the ages have conceived, this problem in three main forms. 1. i am not god. i wish to become god. this is the hindus conception. i am malkuth. i wish to become kether. this is the qabalistic equivalent. 2. i am a fallen creature. i wish to be redeemed. this is the christian conception. i am mal

negative. 11. the great magical number, as uniting the antitheses of 5 and 6 etc. dwa the magic force itself. 12. useless. mere symbol of the goal. 13. helpful, since if we can reduce our formula to 13, it becomes 1 without further trouble. 17. useful, because though it symbolises 1, it does so under the form of a thunderbolt .here is a magic disk for me to hurl, and win heaven by violence. says the aspirant. 21. as bad, nearly, as 7. 26. accursed. as bad as 4. only useful when it is a weapon in your hand; then..if satan be divided against satan. etc. 28. attainable; and so, useful .my victory .my power. says the philosophus. on the qabalah 47 30. the balance.truth. most useful. 31. al the reply to la, who is the god of chesed, 4. the passionate denial of god, useful when other methods fa

LIBER NU

if you have found this useful, please purchase the official copy: liber null& psychonaut. isbn: 0-87728-639-6 available at most online occult book stores, or by mail order (i presume) from mandrake and otheakliber nv svb figvra xi v a a publication in class d (for winners of the ordeal x) imprimatur. v.v.v.v.v. n. fra. a a o.m. 7 =4 1 000. this is the book of the cult of the infinite without. 00. the aspirant is hadit. nuit is the infinite expansion of the rose; hadit the infinite contraction of the rood (instruction of v.v.v.v.v) 0. first let the aspirant learn in his heart the first chapter of the book of the law (instruction of v.v.v.v.v) 1. worship, i.e, identify thyself with, the khabs, the secret light within the heart. within this, again, unextended is hadit. this is the first pract

ehends all in none. also 50+ 6= 56= 5+ 6= 11, the key of all rituals. and 50 6= 300, the spirit of the child within (note n#i= 72, the shemhamphorash and the quinaries of the zodiac, etc) this is the second practice of intelligence (ccxx. i. 25, 26. 2 liber n v 5. the result of this practice is the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of the body of nuit. in other words, the aspirant is conscious only of the infinite universe as a single being (note for this the importance of paragraph 3. ed) this is the first indication of the nature of the result (ccxx. i. 26. 6. meditate upon nuit as the continuous one resolved into none and two as the phases of her being [for the universe being self-contained must be capable of expression by the formula (n- n= 0. for if not, l

ula n- m= p. that is, the infinite moves otherwise than in itself, which is absurd. ed] this is the second practice of meditation (ccxx. i. 27) 7. meditate upon the facts of samadhi on all planes, the liberation of heat in chemistry, joy in natural history, ananda in religion, when two things join to lose themselves in a third. this is the third practice of meditation (ccxx. i. 28, 29, 30. 8. let the aspirant pay utmost reverence to the authority of the a a and follow its instructions, and let him swear a great oath of devotion unto nuit. this is the second practice of ethics (ccxx. i. 32. 9. let the aspirant beware of the slightest exercise of his will against another being. thus, lying is a better posture than sitting or standing, as it opposes less resistance to gravitation. yet his fir

e nearest and most potent; e.g. he may rise to greet a friend. this is the third practice of ethics (ccxx. i. 41. 10. let this aspirant exercise his will without the least consideration for any other being. this direction cannot be understood, much less accomplished, until the previous practice has been perfected. this is the fourth practice of ethics (ccxx. i. 42, 43, 44. svb figvra xi 3 11. let the aspirant comprehend that these two practices are identical. this is the third practice of intelligence (ccxx i. 45. 12. let the aspirant live the life beautiful and pleasant. for this freedom hath he won. but let each act, especially of love, be devoted wholly to his true mistress, nuit. this is the fifth practice of ethics (ccxx i. 51, 52, 61, 63. 13. let the aspirant yearn toward nuit under

let each act, especially of love, be devoted wholly to his true mistress, nuit. this is the fifth practice of ethics (ccxx i. 51, 52, 61, 63. 13. let the aspirant yearn toward nuit under the stars of night, with a love directed by his magical will, not merely proceeding from the heart. this is the first practice of magick art (ccxx. i. 57. 14. the result of this practice in the subsequent life of the aspirant is to fill him with unimaginable joys: to give him certainty concerning the nature of the phenomenon called death; to give him peace unutterable, rest, and ecstasy. this is the second indication of the nature of the result (ccxx. i. 58. 15. let the aspirant prepare a perfume of resinous woods and gums, according to his inspiration. this is the second practice of magick art (ccxx. i. 5

t is to fill him with unimaginable joys: to give him certainty concerning the nature of the phenomenon called death; to give him peace unutterable, rest, and ecstasy. this is the second indication of the nature of the result (ccxx. i. 58. 15. let the aspirant prepare a perfume of resinous woods and gums, according to his inspiration. this is the second practice of magick art (ccxx. i. 59. 16. let the aspirant prepare a pantacle, as follows. inscribe a circle within a pentagram, upon a ground square or of such other convenient shape as he may choose. let the circle be scarlet, the pentagram black, the ground royal blue studded with golden stars. within the circle, at its centre, shall be painted a sigil that shall be revealed to the aspirant by nuit herself. and this pantacle shall serve fo

LIBER SEPTEM REGUM SANCTORUM

urge& crook.4 the candidate, well fed& joyful, clad in the robe of a probationer& crowned with laurel, is led by the hegemon (his neophyte) into the hall. taken to the altar, on which burns a small fire of odorous wood, cedar or sandal or lign aloes, he is made to kneel thereat& the black officer comes forward threatening him with his scourge& saith: hiereus: who art thou? hegemon (for cand: i am the aspirant to the sacred& sublime order of a\a& i seek the aid of osiris. 1 missing in this copy. but the text implies that the temple contains (i) an altar of some kind, probably in the west (near the entrance to the room (ii) seven thrones for the planetary stations, probably arranged in a heptagon, with the fourth in the east (iii) a dais of seven steps in the east, beyond the station of sol

emon answers, removing the hoodwink once and for all:6 verily, thou sayest well; know that osiris is a black god& the straight way unto the sacred& sublime order lieth not through the green pastures& beside still waters. but in the valley of the shadow of death, his crook& scourge shall avail thee. take them therefore& fold thine arms upon thy breast; ascend with me the seven steps of the throne. the aspirant then does so, standing between the officers. the fourth throne is removed to leave a passage. the seven kings rush upon him& belabor him with their weapons; but he makes his way& they fall one by one; the seventh upon the second step, the sixth upon the third, the fifth upon the fourth, the fourth upon the fifth, the third upon the sixth, the second upon the seventh& the first at the

es so, standing between the officers. the fourth throne is removed to leave a passage. the seven kings rush upon him& belabor him with their weapons; but he makes his way& they fall one by one; the seventh upon the second step, the sixth upon the third, the fifth upon the fourth, the fourth upon the fifth, the third upon the sixth, the second upon the seventh& the first at the foot of the throne. the aspirant passes over their bodies& takes his seat. they then, each from his place, adore him while the two officers support him on either side& the hierophant addresses him: frater_ this day have i symbolically placed thee in the seat of a brother of the a\a. see to it that thy life truly reflect this gradual conquest of the powers7 of the seven& never forget that thy path is the path of osiri

he two officers support him on either side& the hierophant addresses him: frater_ this day have i symbolically placed thee in the seat of a brother of the a\a. see to it that thy life truly reflect this gradual conquest of the powers7 of the seven& never forget that thy path is the path of osiris,8& that osiris is a black god. they then conduct him from the temple) after the seven hours are past, the aspirant is rescued by osiris, the black officer, in the words already given, omitting verily thou sayest well& using a sterner tone for the beginning of the speech. the ceremony then proceeds as before. source: this text was emailed to me in january of 2001. i am unaware of its provenance. certain errors in the copy i was sent suggest it had been ocr scanned at some point. the statements at t

LIBER THISHARB

5, pp. 28-59, and especially pp. 48-56. we have little to alter or to add. its most important result, as regards the oath of the abyss, is the freedom from all desire or clinging to everything which it gives. its second result is to aid the adept in the second method, by supplying him with further data for his investigation.3 1 those in posession of liber 185 will note that in every grade but one the aspirant is pledged to serve his inferiors in the order [the adeptus minor is not so pledged; the probationer has no inferiors in the order. t.s] 2 make the adeptus exemptus perfect as such before proceeding [note added in mtp publication of liber 913] 3 the magical memory (i.e, of former incarnations) frees one from desire by shewing how futile and sorrow-breeding all earthly and even sub-mag

LIBER XXV THE STAR RUBY

10 [psyche. for eros and psyche see the fable in the metamorphoses (golden ass) of apuleius, the reference in any case being to vau and he final of tetragrammaton, as chaos and babalon (see gthe vision and the voice h) represent yod and he. magick has gbellow hadit. h. t.s] 11 [the signs of n.o.x. are described in gliber v vel reguli. h the order in which they are given is left to the ingenium of the aspirant. t.s] 12 [grk, gbefore me the iunges, behind me the teletarchs, at my right the sunoches, at my left the daimons; for about me flames the star of five and in the column the star of six is fixed. h for the iunges, teletarchs and sunoches see the chaldaan oracles and the secondary literature thereon. t.s] 13 [commentary by crowley on this chapter as printed in the second edition of the

LOGOMACHY OF ZOS

the past, the events masquerading as metaphor or allegory in an ideographic language. beware the demagogue with a plausible ideology for your betterment, he is a dangerous throwback, mass murder his weapon. so we are necessary, and necessitarians of a limitless necessarianism. things become only by making the necessity. gods, souls, bodies. anything will obtain, leveled to the necessitousness of the aspirant. art should show us the likeness we desire to know, the likeness we miss in our day-to-day seeing..it is true that it is untrue, that we cannot believe the unbelievable (i.e, the unrelatable. if i cannot relate to god, am i more than the fetishmaker? and can you say this is ungodly if all things are god? for all things being god and his will, he also determines the will of man and is

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

h wine and became the real cause of the orgies. in certain parts of the earth it was maintained that there were natural wells, springs, or fountains, in which the water (because of the minerals through which it coursed) was tinctured with sacred properties. temples were often built near these spots, and in some cases natural caves which chanced to be in the vicinity were sanctified to some deity "the aspirants to initiation, and those who came to request prophetic dreams of the gods, were prepared by a fast, more or less prolonged, after which they partook of meals expressly prepared; and also of mysterious drinks, such as the water of lethe, and the water of mnemosyne in the grotto of trophonius; or of the ciceion in the mysteries of the eleusinia. different drugs were easily mixed up wit

MASTERING WITCHCRAFT

ng. by dint of this, the ceremony concludes with the new initiate scourging his initiator with thrice as many blows as he himself received, namely, one hundred and twenty in all. he is then presented to the powers at the four quarters as a duly consecrated high priest and wizard, or high priestess and queen of the sabbat, whichever the case may be. in the second ritual, instead of the progress of the aspirant through the four elements, the myth of the goddess is implied, where the witch goddess andred, aradia, habondia, or whatever other name you may care to know her by, descends into the world of the dead somewhat like persephone in hades or ishtar in the realm of ereshkigal, and receives the scourge and fivefold kiss of the horned god of death and subsequent conferment of power. sometime

MEANING OF MASONRY

pare the materials for building the temple of the heavenly city. and so, as the sign peculiar to the degree suggests, he endeavours to examine and lay bare his heart, to cast away all impurity from it, and he stands, like joshua, praying that the light of day may be extended to him until he has accomplished the overthrow of his own inward enemies and of every obstacle to his complete development. the aspirant who attains proficiency in the work of self-perfecting to which the f.c. grade alludes, has passed away from the n. side of the lodge, the side of darkness and imperfection; and now stands on the s.e. side in the meridian sunlight of moral illumination (so far as the natural man may possess it, but yet still far removed from that fuller realization of himself and of the mysteries of h

of falsehood and dishonour" those imperfections of his own nature, that may delay his after-progress. no! the death to which masonry alludes, using the analogy of bodily death and under the veil of a reference to it, is that death-in -life to a man's own lower self which st. paul referred to when he protested" i die daily" it is over the grave, not of one's dead body but of one's lower self, that the aspirant must walk before attaining to the heights. what is meant is that complete self-sacrifice and self-crucifixion which, as all religions teach, are essential before the soul can be raised in glory" from a figurative death to a reunion with the companions of its former toils" both here and in the unseen world. the perfect cube must pass through the metamorphosis of the cross. the soul mus

ty power, raises the faithful and regenerated soul to union w ith itself in an embrace of reconciliation and at-one-ment. in all the schools of the mysteries, as well as in all the great religions of the world, the attainment of the spiritual goal just described is enacted or taught under the veil of a tragic episode analogous to that of our third degree; and in each there is a master whose death the aspirant is instructed he must imitate in his own person. in masonry that prototype is hiram abiff: but it must be made clear that there is no historical basis whatever for the legendary account of hiram's death. the entire story is symbolical and was purposely invented for the symbolical purposes of our teaching. if you examine it closely you will perceive how obvious the correspondence is be

will the man whose initiation is not a conventional one find himself threatened at the door of the higher knowledge by opposing invisible forces if he rashly rushes forward in a state of moral unfitness into the deep secrets of the centre. better remain ignorant than embark upon this unknown sea unwisely and without being properly prepared and in possession of the proper passports. and eventually the aspirant, after these preliminary disciplines, has to learn the great truth embodied in the third degree; that he who would be raised to perfection and regain what he has long realized has been lost to himself, may do so only by utter self-abnegation, by a dying to all that to the eyes and the reason of the uninitiated outer world is precious and desirable. the third degree, brethren, is an ex

our life scheme be discerned; yet even these should be subordinate to the three chief qualifications, namely, faith in the possibility of attaining the end in view; hope, or a persistent fervent desire for its fulfilment; and finally an unbounded love which, seeking god in all men and all things, despite their outward appearances, and thinking no evil, gradually identifies the mind and nature of the aspirant with that ultimate good upon which his thought, desire and gaze should be persistently directed. it is important to note here that this enlargement of consciousness is in no way represented as being dependent upon intellectual attainments, learning or book-knowledge. these may be, and indeed are, lesser staves of the ladder of attainment; but they are not numbered among the principal

all knowledge and have not love, i am nothing" and those of a medieval mystic" by love he may be gotten and holden, but by wit and understanding never" the lodge is" supported by three grand pillars, wisdom, strength and beauty" again the references are not to the external meeting-place, but to a triplicity of properties resident in the individual soul, which will become increasingly manifest in the aspirant as he progresses and adapts himself to the masonic discipline. as is written of the youthful christian master that" he increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with god and man" so will it also become true of the neophyte mason who aspires to mastership. he will become conscious of an increase of perceptive faculty and understanding; he will become aware of having tapped a previo

MICHAEL FORD WITCHMOON

nts and emergent thought patterns. dream control stems from the ability to understand the self and offer a power base within the subconscious. foundations of iron are most important. to create something strong one must use the highest quality of materials available. evolving a mental connection to the astral plane requires the most rigorous self-analysis. it is during this period of analysis that the aspirant becomes a 'solitary, shunning unnecessary contacts. the reason is that the mind and its magickal abilities are 21 21 strengthened in solitude, and the methods of will training in isolation are therefore the best companions. it is during this time that the sorcerer is able to further practice the methods of sorcery; chaos, thelemic and other methods of magick which will enable a strong

practice the methods of sorcery; chaos, thelemic and other methods of magick which will enable a strong transference into the astral world of vampiric sorcery. the individual will begin to learn and understand that all things in this world can be changed or adjusted to the warlock s will and that he/she is ultimately the master of their own destiny. an aspect of proper training techniques is that the aspirant takes to viewing and studying things normally disgusting to their own personal taste. there are objective but subtle reasons for this that will become clearer as they proceed. at the starting point, it is of the utmost significance that the individual focuses on understanding their own fears and pains, without these reasons necessarily being clear. it will however be seen at once that

MORALS AND DOGMA

symbols the two-fold motion of the stars, fixed and planetary, and the passage of the soul through their successive spheres. they erected in their holy caves, in which the mystic rites of the mithriac initiations were practised, what he denominates a high _ladder, on the seven steps of which were seven gates or portals, according to the number of the seven principal heavenly bodies. through these the aspirants passed, until they reached the summit of the whole; and this passage was styled a transmigration through the spheres. jacob saw in his dream a _ladder_ planted or set on the earth, and its top reaching to heaven, and the malaki alohim ascending and descending on it, and above it stood ihuh, declaring himself to be ihuh-alhi abraham. the word translated _ladder, is [hebrew _salam, fro

trident. herodotus tells us that the temple of bal at babylon was a tower composed of seven towers, resting on an eighth that served as basis, and successively diminishing in size from the bottom to the top; and strabo tells us it was a pyramid. faber thinks that the mithriac _ladder_ was really a pyramid with seven stages, each provided with a narrow door or aperture, through each of which doors the aspirant passed, to reach the summit, and then descended through similar doors on the opposite side of the pyramid; the ascent and descent of the soul being thus represented. each mithriac cave and all the most ancient temples were intended to symbolize the universe, which itself was habitually called the temple and habitation of deity. every temple was the world in miniature; and so the whole

_punishments. no one can be initiated, says suidas, until after he has proven, by the most terrible trials, that he possesses a virtuous soul, exempt from the sway of every passion, and at it were impassible. there were twelve principal tests; and some make the number larger. the trials of the eleusinian initiations were not so terrible; but they were severe; and the suspense, above all, in which the aspirant was kept for several years [the memory of which is retained in masonry by the _ages_ of those of the different degrees, or the interval between admission to the _inferior_ and initiation in the _great_ mysteries, was a species of torture to the curiosity which it was desired to excite. thus the egyptian priests tried pythagoras before admitting him to know the secrets of the sacred sc

again; and raw flesh was distributed to the initiates, which each ate, in memory of the death of the deity, torn in pieces by the titans. these mysteries also were celebrated at the vernal equinox; and the emblem of generation, to express the active energy and generative power of the divinity, was a principal symbol. the initiates wore garlands and crowns of myrtle and laurel. in these mysteries, the aspirant was kept in terror and darkness to perform the three days and nights; and was then made [greek: a?a??s, or ceremony representing the death of bakchos, the same mythological personage with osiris. this was effected by confining him in a close cell, that he might seriously reflect, in solitude and darkness, on the business he was engaged in: and his mind be prepared for the reception of

was a symbolic death; the deliverance from it, regeneration; after which he was called [greek: d] or twin-born. while confined in the cell, the pursuit of typhon after the mangled body of osiris, and the search of rhea or isis for the same, were enacted in his hearing; the initiated crying aloud the names of that deity derived from the sanscrit. then it was announced that the body was found; and the aspirant was liberated amid shouts of joy and exultation. then he passed through a representation of hell and elysium "then" said an ancient writer "they are entertained with hymns and dances, with the sublime doctrines of sacred knowledge, and with wonderful and holy visions. and now become perfect and initiated, they are free, and no longer under restraint; but, crowned and triumphant, they

e cast on the ground, and it became a serpent; and at another time he struck the rivers orontes and hydaspes with it, and the waters receded and he passed over dry-shod. water was obtained, during the ceremonies, by striking a rock with it. the bakch crowned their heads with serpents, carried them in vases and baskets, and at the [greek??s, or finding, of the body of osiris, cast one, alive, into the aspirant's bosom. the mysteries of atys in phrygia, and those of cybele his mistress, like their worship, much resembled those of adonis and bakchos, osiris and isis. their asiatic origin is universally admitted, and was with great plausibility claimed by phrygia, which contested the palm of antiquity with egypt. they, more than any other people, mingled allegory with their religious worship

MOTTA MARCELO THE COMMENTARIES OF AL

the magus of the aeon in which he lives (which fortunately is absurd, although they are always trying, mankind might very well go the way of the dinosaur and other extinct species. which is not about to happen, by any means. we are at war, certainly, and under atomic threat, certainly. better this than the stagnation that certain well intentioned fools would call 'peace! from the point of view of the aspirant, what is the fundamental difference between the formula of the fools and that of the gods? the gods crossed the abyss; they are perfect. see verse 45 "the perfect and the perfect are one perfect and not two; nay, are none" that is, they are the "fool of god" zero. with a true god you achieve samadhi, union; with a false god, one of the "fools" a 'black brother' you are enticed or orde

thus; that men speak not of thee as one but as none; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous! there are several secret meanings, all of a technical nature, in this passage; it is unnecessary to dwell on them, since they become clear to earnest seekers during training. one thing, however, is better said here, and has to do with the vampire. at some time during his career, the aspirant will meet a woman who will either insinuate to him, or he will by his own vanity be led to believe, is nuit incarnate. now, the key to the ordeal, and its difficulty, is that all women are, in a sense, incarnations of nuit. but no woman is, or can ever be, nuit in a finite sense. the drop of sea water is of the nature of the ocean, but it is not the ocean. nevertheless, one can certai

ost importance to zelators. the grade of zelator reflects that of magister templi in the lower triad see liber 418 on jesod and the zelator becomes acquainted with that influence which we call choronzon 333. without speculating on the nature of this "mighty devil" which has power to persecute any member of the a. a. as long "as thou art thou" see liber 418, the tenth aethyr we may say simply that the aspirant will be approached by all kinds of people who will talk as if inspired, or talk as if they are masters, and who will attempt to advise or to warn him, or just to make contact with him and be acknowledged as gods speaking. pay no attention to them. they are simply choronzon, one and all. true "gods" are perfect, and will not speak to you. they and you have different true wills. they do

one cannot say that any significance of that gesture is forbidden, for "there is no law beyond do what thou wilt" but this may and shall be said, that a significance which indicates ignorance or forgetfulness of the central truth of the universe is an acquiescence in that opacity caused by the confusion of the veils which conceal the soul from the consciousness, and thus create the illusion which the aspirant calls sorrow, and the uninitiate, evil. the sexual act, even to the grossest of mankind, is the agent which dissipates the fog of self for one ecstatic moment. it is the instinctive feeling that the physical spasm is symbolic of that miracle of the mass, by which the material wafer, composed of the passive elements, earth and water, is transmuted into the substance of the body of god

. we are exhorted to offer ourselves unto nuit, pilgrims to all her temples. it is bad magick to admit that one is other than one's inmost self. one should plunge passionately into every possible experience; by doing so, one is purged of those personal prejudices which we took so stupidly for ourselves, though they prevented us from realizing our true wills and from knowing our names and natures. the aspirant must well understand that it is no paradox to say that the annihilation of the ego in the abyss is the condition of emancipating the true self, and exalting it to unimaginable heights. so long as one remains one's self' one is overwhelmed by the universe; destroy the sense of self, and every event is equally an expression of one's will, since its occurrence is the resultant of the con

l predilections. or, in other words, do what thou wilt. but it is even worse to deny reality to such facts as refuse to humour them. in the charter of spiritual sovereignty it is written that the charcoal-burner is no less a subject than the duke. the structure of the state includes all elements; it were stupid and suicidal to aim at homogeneity, or to assert it. spiritual experience soon enables the aspirant to assimilate these ideas, and he can enjoy life to the full, finding his true self alike in the contemplation of every element of existence. some technical aspects of the verse had better be touched upon. first, note that to worship hadit one is to take 'wine and strange drugs, for which see liber aleph, chapters 93-94. this is because you are hadit; alcohol and such drugs temporaril

REGARDIE ISRAEL THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN

and minds. thus when the hierophant leaves the throne of the east, he represents that higher self inaction, and as osiris marks the active descent of the supernal splendour. for he says, as he leaves the dais with wand uplifted "i come in the power of the light. i come in the light of wisdom. i come in the mercy of the light. the light hath healing inits wings <46> and having brought the light to the aspirant, he returns to his throne, as though that divine genius of whom he is the symbol awaited the deliberate willing return of the aspirant himself to the everlasting abode of the light. 28 the golden dawn even in the communication of the usual claptrap of secret societies, the signs and grips, all these are explained solely in terms of the quest for the light. also the various groupings o

necessary one chaos is to be transcended. from of light, for it is always from the rubbish 32 the golden dawn <56> manifestation of god-head. these symbols have a dual reference. not only do they refer to the epochs of creative evolution whose memory has long since faded even from the visible memory of nature, but also to the recapitulations of these periods within personal progress on the path "the aspirant on the threshold of initiation" observes crowley very aptly "finds himself assailed by the 'complexes' which have corrupted him, their externalisation excruciating him, and his agonised reluctance to their elimination plunging him into such ordeals that he seems (both to himself and to others) to have turned from a noble and upright man into an unutterable scoundrel" these are the exp

which is induced at this juncture, illumination <69> may quite easily occur. in one of the documents describing certain effects ensuing from this initiation, one of the chiefs has written,that the object of the ceremony conceived as a whole "is especially intended to effect the change of the consciousness into the neschamah, and there are three places where this can take place. the first is when the aspirant is on the cross, because he is so exactly fulfilling the symbol of the abnegation of the lower self and the union with the higher" the obligation assumed, the candidate is now removed from the cross, and the officers then narrate to him the principal facts in the history of the founder of the order- christian rosenkreutz. on a previous page was given a summary of these historical fact

higher and divine genius. immediately above this coffin rested the circular altar mentioned in the fama. it bore paintings of the kerubic emblems, and upon these were placed the four elemental weapons and a cross, the symbol of 38 the golden dawn resurrection. at one point in the ceremony, the acting hierophant, or chief adept as he is now called, is interred in the pastos as though to represent the aspirant's higher self which is hidden and confined within the personality, itself wandering blindly, lost in the dark wilderness. the whole concatenation of symbols is an elaborate and dramatic portrayal of the central theme of the great work. in a word, it depicts <71> the spiritual rebirth or redemption of the candidate, his resurrection from the dark tomb of mortality through the power of

. in addition to these technical methods there were meditations on the symbols and ideas of the whole system, and it was quite frequently suggested that the student go through the ceremonies, after having taken the grades, and build them up in his imagination so that he re-lives them as vividly as when he was in the temple. the practical exercise that accompanied the portal grade was one in which the aspirant built up, again in the imagination, a symbolic form of the qabalistic tree of life, paying at first particular attention to the formulation of the middle pillar in the sphere of sensation or aura. this latter was conceived to be an ovoid shape of subtle <80> matter, and the imaginative formulation of the various sephiroth therein whilst vibrating the appropriate divine names went far

er order of the golden dawn. the graduated training of the entire outer was intended as a preparation for the practical work to be performed in the 42 the golden dawn inner or second order of the roseae rubeae et aureae crucis. the assignation of personal magical work seems deliberately to have been postponed until after the vault reception. it was held that the ceremony formulated a link between the aspirant and his augoeides, that connection serving therefore as a guide and a powerful protection which is clearly required in the works of ceremonial magic. since at the commencement of each serious operation the initiate must needs exalt himself towards his higher and divine genius that through him may flow the divine power which alone is capable of producing a pure magical work, the initia

RITUALS OF THE SOCIETAS ROSICRUCIANIS IN ANGLIA

covery, byinvestigating alchemy, astrology and astronomy, etc. at the climax of the philosophus ceremony,the initiate sees gualdi return to life 226 the hymn which is sung at this point giving some telling cluesrituals of the societas rosicrucianis in angliaforeword3 as to the real nature of the "elixir vitae"alex sumner.rituals of the societas rosicrucianis in angliaforeword4 zelatorfirst sectionthe aspirant in the preparation room, retains his citizen222s dress, but uncovered. over his head andface is thrown a light scarlet veil. the conductor of novices is robed in black with a cowl on hishead, and taking the left arm of the aspirant approaches the door leading from the porch into thesacred hall; while the two heralds stand one on each side of the entrance.conductor of novices:i will go

ight scarlet veil. the conductor of novices is robed in black with a cowl on hishead, and taking the left arm of the aspirant approaches the door leading from the porch into thesacred hall; while the two heralds stand one on each side of the entrance.conductor of novices:i will go unto the altar of god.the first heraldmeeting them at the entrance: to god who giveth joy to my heart.the entrance of the aspirant into the sacred hall is now made in the following order:first herald and second herald, then conductor of novices and aspirant and finally torch bearer.five circuits of the sacred hall are made, with the course of the sun, which the fraters and officersare standing, and the following ode is sung:ere god the universe began, in one rude heap all matter laywhich wild disorder over-ran, n

of wisdom. ourobjects are fraternal aid and encouragement in working out the great problem of life, in theadvancement of science, in the propagation of knowledge and in the diffusion of that gloriousacclamation "glory to god in the highest and on earth, peace, good-will toward men."my brother, of your faith we are assured, but of your zeal, i demand proof.conductor of novices: i am instructed by the aspirant to say in his behalf that he is ignorant of much pertaining to god, tonature and himself; that he is surrounded with spiritual doubt and darkness; that his search is just andsincere. he desires, he beseeches to be received.suffragan: you have spoken wisely. a brave heart may seek anything pure of the pure. zeal in an exaltedpurpose is most commendable, and with it faith can remove mou

d, tonature and himself; that he is surrounded with spiritual doubt and darkness; that his search is just andsincere. he desires, he beseeches to be received.suffragan: you have spoken wisely. a brave heart may seek anything pure of the pure. zeal in an exaltedpurpose is most commendable, and with it faith can remove mountains. prepare then to undergo theelementary tests requires by our order.let the aspirant be conducted to the gate of life, and there be unfolded to him the elementary tests,and primary secrets of nature and truth.the aspirant, with the attendants, pass towards the north, then southward to the front of the 1stancient, who places a little clean earth on his lips.1st ancient: and the voice of the first ancient was heard, saying "hearken ye aspirant. death is the gate oflife

pass towards the north, then southward to the front of the 1stancient, who places a little clean earth on his lips.1st ancient: and the voice of the first ancient was heard, saying "hearken ye aspirant. death is the gate oflife, fear not to enter therein, for in the dust are sown the seeds of immortality."i disclose the pass-word, immortalityrituals of the societas rosicrucianis in angliazelator6 the aspirant is instructed to place his right hand upon his heart, and is then conducted to the south,then back by the north in front of the 2nd ancient; who plies a fan twice or thrice, that the aspirantmay feel the motion of the air.2nd ancient:and the voice of the 2nd ancient was heard, saying "behold, the very air we breathe is full ofmystery; but the love of god surpasseth all things, visible

the south,then back by the north in front of the 2nd ancient; who plies a fan twice or thrice, that the aspirantmay feel the motion of the air.2nd ancient:and the voice of the 2nd ancient was heard, saying "behold, the very air we breathe is full ofmystery; but the love of god surpasseth all things, visible or invisible, while hope is the inheritanceof man on earth."i disclose the pass-word, hope.the aspirant is instructed to place his hand as before, and is thus conducted toward the north andaround toward the south in front of the 3rd ancient, who sprinkles him with pure water.3rd ancient:and the voice of the 3rd ancient was heard, saying "let us approach the house of sanctificationwith clean hands and purified hearts, for our strength is in the omnipotent deity."i disclose the pass-word

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

udonymous author of the books of dionysius the areopagite. in such times it was necessary to exonerate miracles under the pretence of superstition and science by an unintelligible language. hieroglyphic writing was introduction 11 revived; pantacles and characters were invented to summarize an entire doctrine by a sign, a whole sequence of tendencies and revelations in a word. what was the end of the aspirants to knowledge? they sought the secret of the great work, the philosophical stone, the perpetual motion, the quadrature of the circle, the universal medicine formulae which often saved them from persecution and hatred by causing them to be taxed with madness, but all signifying one of the phases of the great magical secret, as we shall show later on. this absence of epics continues til

RUBY TABLET OF SET

nging about the aon of harwer. the book of coming forth by night contains references to and explanations of the magus aleister crowley so we need not go into a detailed account of him here. in forming what the magus crowley referred to as "the structure and system of the great white brotherhood"(5) he divided his system into three orders and eleven grades, plus a designation of "student" in which the aspirant was to gain a varied knowledge from a number of recommended volumes [compare his with our reading list for the temple of set] the probationer (0=[0] occupied the bottom of magus crowley's first division "the order of the golden dawn" this, along with the neophyte (1=[10, the zelator (2=[9, the practicus (3=[8, and the philosophus (4=[7, is described in both the degrees of initiation i

purely academic at this point and has no place here. for a description of the (5=[6 (6=[5, and (7=[4, refer again to magick in theory and practice or to "the degrees of initiation" the likenesses are there. in the third division "the order of the silver star" the golden dawn designations were kept (8=[3] magister templi (9=[2] magus, and (10=[1] ipsissimus. the magus crowley's own instructions to the aspirants to the (8=[3] were to annihilate the personality which, he said "limits and oppresses his true self" no advice could be more suicidal. the (8=[3] advice was to obliterate that which makes man unique [his capacity for discernment, rational thought, judgement, etc] in order that he might merge with the universal awareness/consciousness. this, it will be noted, is patent hogwash. nay, l

ng of a diary or journal, which enables us to begin to discern the fundamental pattern of our life as it develops through time. ritual can also aid immensely in this journey within. the grimoires of olden time, such as the book of the sacred magic of abramelin the mage, often prescribed magical retreats or retirements as times of preparation for the mighty works of sorcery. these were times where the aspirant isolated himself from profane concerns and devoted himself exclusively to intense self-examination, contemplation, and frequent and fervent ceremonial invocation of his higher genius. following the guidelines set down by abramelin, aleister crowley used as his specific invocation ritual an adapted form of a hellenistic graeco-egyptian rite of exorcism. this beautiful but exceedingly c

ere everyone else has a rifle- crowley, magick, page #332. 47. here there is a paradox. to become a magister templi, an individual is told to destroy his capacity for logical thought, i.e: his ability to draw deductive or inductive conclusions from the phenomena of the objective universe. since it is precisely this capacity that produces the "mirror in which the self may be seen (cogito ergo sum, the aspirant is invited to obliterate just what it is that enables him to perceive himself as a unique entity. theoretically he is "reconstructed by the gods in a perfect form- an ideal "self. herein lies the heart of the paradox: it is that an independent will, capable of perceiving itself in contrast to the objective universe, cannot be entirely a product of forces derivative of that universe [s

eriously consider all the implications. xem shall require a great amount of zealousness, of magical work, of self-discipline, of selfinspection, and no compromise. it is up to each aspirant to determine their own willingness and readiness to meet the challenge of entering xem. once begun, there is no going back, for it is a new dimension of being that is initiated. to begin and then to turn back, the aspirant will lose all that has been gained and worse yet, that which was gained will become as a malignancy against which there is no cure. it must be further understood that with this new dimension of being which is ever evolving, the work shall not be accomplished by employing human standards which are but games, petty religion, and politics. neither is the work involved in an organizationa

understand these things should wait until they recognize xem. but to wait too long might cause the will to grow weak, and they might be imprisoned in lower states of rest and preservation. those who decide to work and accept that which comes with the work will xeper and actualize xem. to hesitate, to rationalize in human terms, to feel negativeness or fear or lack of confidence may negate xeper. the aspirant must be conscious of that which he is and is not; which he knows and knows not; which he does and does not; which he wills and wills not; which is ma'at and is not ma'at. the aspirant can be conscious of all this, but he must work for it. the elect who shall work toward xem must also know that alone the work cannot be completed. the elect must realize that the work shall require assis

SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON ZANONI A ROSICRUCIAN TALE

om and the mirth of spring. man's common existence is as one year to the vegetable world: he has his spring, his summer, his autumn, and winter, but only once. but the giant oaks round him go through a revolving series of verdure and youth, and the green of the centenarian is as vivid in the beams of may as that of the sapling by its side "mine shall be your spring, but not your winter" exclaimed the aspirant. wrapped in these sanguine and joyous reveries, glyndon, quitting the woods, found himself amidst cultivated fields and vineyards to which his footstep had not before wandered; and there stood, by the skirts of a green lane that reminded him of verdant england, a modest house, half cottage, half farm. the door was open, and he saw a girl at work with her distaff. she looked up, uttere

current of my thought. i sprang forward, and cried"'imposter or fiend, we meet at last "the figure rose as i advanced, and, unmasking, showed the features of mejnour. his fixed eye, his majestic aspect, awed and repelled me. i stood rooted to the ground"'yes' he said solemnly 'we meet, and it is this meeting that i have sought. how hast thou followed my admonitions! are these the scenes in which the aspirant for the serene science thinks to escape the ghastly enemy? do the thoughts thou hast uttered thoughts that would strike all order from the universe express the hopes of the sage who would rise to the harmony of the eternal spheres"'it is thy fault, it is thine' i exclaimed 'exorcise the phantom! take the haunting terror from my soul "mejnour looked at me a moment with a cold and cynic

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

ps that were in existence well before the time of christian origins.153 the essenes were one of the sects active in palestine. they were of a closed nature and with an estimated membership at the time of christ of around four thousand. they formed a community, whose members were directed to lead a life suited to the development of the higher self within their souls, and so to achieve rebirth. 154 the aspirant was subjected to stringent tests in order to establish whether or not he was sufficiently mature to make himself ready for the higher life. on being accepted, he had to spend a period as a probationer, and to swear a solemn oath not to reveal to outsiders the secrets of their discipline. jesus in his historical setting 141 community life itself was devoted to the crushing of humanity

TECHNICIANS GUIDE TO THE LEFT HAND PATH

t is, and what is to be, of your future actions. it is an inner vision that must be articulated in order to take form, many times this form is symbolic, or follows a symbolic methodology. exploring life and its events have become symbols revealing the existence of a further dimension to existence by symbolic representation. by understanding, in a symbolic sense, an entire universe is opened up to the aspirant. but, the vision must be the result of doing those things which make the higher consciousness state of man possible. nothing of significance will just happen on its own in the lhp, everything is the result of doing. the "birthed self" is conscious, it moves along in its events with some degree of control, made possible by the choices inherent within each circumstance. but, there is no

as its treasures are discovered. the path will not come to you, you must go to it, awake and prepared, this is why there are schools. chapter 3. the time to wake up..it is up to each aspirant to determine their own willingness and readiness to meet the challenge of entering xem. once begun there is no going back for it is a new dimension of being that is initiated. to begin and then to turn back, the aspirant will lose all that has been gained and worse yet, that which was gained will become as a malignancy against which there is no cure" from- the book of opening the way the stage of initiation spoken above by magus ronald k. barrett requires a very deep reflection by every individual who considers seriously undertaking the rigors of the lhp. what is being referred to in this extract from

THE BLACK LODGE

demons" and thus do they attempt to protect the consciousness of the cave dweller, the troglodyte which they have been protecting for millions of years. when we attempt to raise our consciousness above the evolutionary "norm (which these "demoniac forces" represent) we incur the automatic "instinctual, response of censure from these complexes or entities. put another way (for it is essential that the aspirant come to understand this key concept) when the aspirant vibrates on the spiritual planes, and calls the attention of the hierophant (or hierophants, immediately it is reflected into all the other planes, and sets moving the forces needed for the psychosomatic dissolution and reorganization of the candidate. when any human aspires to the path of the wise at once the infernal forces are

herubs who serve the logos (see the seal of the order of thelema; and to the four great princes of the demoniac world, whose obligation it is to serve the adept (cf the sacred magic of abramelin the mage and liber viii for more on this subject. when any human being truly aspires to the path of the wise, the infernal forces are activated to tempt- read test- the candidate along the planes on which the aspirant has consciousness and volition, no matter how undeveloped they may be, the act of aspiring itself is irrevocable. there is no turning back. thus it is said that a magickal oath truly taken can never be broken. when aspiration is not pure, the process may be temporarily activated in one or two planes; but this innervation will cease once the energy that stirred things runs out. many ar

te fact: first, that they are under the attack of demoniac forces since the first moment they aspire to initiation; second, that those forces must be conquered and put to the service of the true will. if aspirants let themselves be dominated, instead of dominating, in a certain sense they are eaten and digested by the demons, and become mere instruments of the demoniac worlds on the earth. should the aspirants, out of fear or repulsion, avoid all contact with the demoniac forces, they will be unable to develop control of certain planes of consciousness, and therefore will never become balanced initiates- that is to say, adepts. they even run the risk of becoming "black brethren, that is, of withdrawing completely from the evolutive wave of mankind and falling under the influence of what th

ce are such that they can only really be understood by masters of the temple of the a .a, and therefore we will not further discuss the subject here. the work of the black lodge shows itself under these main aspects: they incite hierarchic indiscipline in aspirants. we cannot insist too much on the point that the whole process, once aspiration is formulated, becomes automatic. let us suppose that the aspirant, man or woman, becomes linked to a true initiatic order. his or her vehicles are immediately dynamized and encouraged to expand. at the same time, he or she must obey a guru, or a hierarchic superior. beginners on the way, simultaneously exalted by the magick current of the order or by the guru s aura, and subjected to agitation of all their faculties, will experience impulses of vani

ning is that the demoniac forces, stimulated in the disciple s vehicles, are organizing a defense system against the impact of the master s, or the order s influence. the psychosoma of the disciple is under attack, and tries to defend itself. the situation becomes more difficult since this defense mechanism is a legitimate process: the purpose of the master (or of the order) is to kill the ego of the aspirant, so the phoenix (symbol of a higher stage of consciousness) may be reborn from those ashes. every step is a death and a birth. it is not the master who dies and resurrects in the initiatic process- as we have already remarked, at least in theory he or she has already got a diploma- but the pupil. the demonic influences are, then, manifesting themselves precisely to protect the ego of

ccess" will exist only in terms of the planes where the pupil was already functioning. he or she will not rise to a higher plane of existence, that is, will not be initiated (note that this is the reason why the so-called "sidhis" of the rishis or powers/miracles of western schools are shunned by true adepts. they only prove that extra energy has been "injected" if you will into the psychosoma of the aspirant. note how they manifest: walking on water, very convenient if you are to poor to afford a boat, turning water into wine, again very handy if you want a "buzz" and are broke, most of these powers-sidhis-miracles deconstruct with this simple ease. therefore it is written "who tries to keep his own life, shall lose his life; but he who loses his life, shall gain life eternal" and it is a

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL 1

fter the tests, and he fallen into the abyss of matter. if, however, the initiate had resisted the seductress, 12 neocoros would enter the room to lead him in triumph into the sanctuary of isis, where the priests awaited him beneath a massive statue of the goddess. beneath this representation of isis, a gold rose at her breast, wearing a crown of seven rays, and holding her son horus in her arms, the aspirant would take oaths of silence and submission as a disciple of isis. from that day forward, he would be a recipient of the mysteries of isis. m delving deeper brandon, s. g. f. religion in ancient history. new york: charles scribner s sons, 1969. imel, martha ann, and dorothy myers. goddesses in world mythology. new york: oxford university press, 1995. schure, edouard. the great initiate

ions and cults death or lord of the west, referring to his mastery over all those who had traveled west into the sunset of death. an initiate into the cult would be led at dusk into the lower crypt of the temple by four priests carrying torches. in a corner of the crypt was an open marble sarcophagus supported by four pillars placed upon four sphinxes. the chief priest of the mystery would advise the aspirant that no man could ever escape death, but every soul who died was also destined to be resurrected and to receive life anew. those who would be a priest of osiris must enter the tomb alive and await his light. he must spend the night in the coffin and enter through the door of fear to achieve mastery. the initiate would lie down in the open sarcophagus and be left alone in the crypt. th

ith the blood of pigs as they emerged. a sacrifice was offered to the gods, and a procession began the journey to eleusis, where, upon the arrival of the priests, the initiates were received by the high priest of eleusis, the hieroceryx, or sacred herald, who was dressed in a manner suggesting the god hermes (mercury, holding the caduceus, the entwined serpents, as a symbol of his authority. once the aspirants had assembled, the sacred herald led them to a sanctuary of the goddess persephone hidden in a quiet valley in the midst of a sacred grove. here, the priestesses of persephone, crowned with narcissus wreaths, began chanting, warning the newcomers of the mysteries that they were about to perceive. the initiates would learn that the present life that they held so dear was but a tapestr

tuary of the goddess persephone hidden in a quiet valley in the midst of a sacred grove. here, the priestesses of persephone, crowned with narcissus wreaths, began chanting, warning the newcomers of the mysteries that they were about to perceive. the initiates would learn that the present life that they held so dear was but a tapestry of illusion and confused dreams. after a stern admonition that the aspirants be careful not to desecrate the mysteries in any way lest the goddess persephone pursue them forever, they were allowed to partake of food and drink. for the next several days, the initiates fasted and participated in cleansing rituals and prayers. on the evening of the last day of the celebration of the mystery, the candidates gathered in the most secret area of the sacred grove to

uropeans, they also could worship their nature spirits in the guise of paying homage to the christian saints. the ancient role of the shaman remains central to macumba. he (it is most often a male) or she enters into a trance state and talks to the spirits in order to gain advice or aid for the supplicants. before anyone can participate in a macumba ceremony, he or she must undergo an initiation. the aspirants must enter a trance during the dancing and the drumming and allow a god to possess them. once the possession has taken place, the shaman must determine which gods are in which initiate so the correct rituals may be performed. the process is assisted by the sacrifice of an animal and the shaman smearing blood over the initiates. once the initiates have been blooded, they take an oath

ss them. once the possession has taken place, the shaman must determine which gods are in which initiate so the correct rituals may be performed. the process is assisted by the sacrifice of an animal and the shaman smearing blood over the initiates. once the initiates have been blooded, they take an oath of loyalty to the cult. later, when the trance state and the possessing spirit has left them, the aspirants, now members of the macumba cult, usually have no memory of the ritual proceedings. m delving deeper huxley, francis.the invisibles. new york: mcgraw- hill, 1966. macumba, occultopedia [online] http//www.occultopedia. com/m/ macumba.htm. 23 january 2002 middleton, john, ed. magic, witchcraft, and curing. garden city, n.y: natural history press, 1967. sharma, arvind, ed. women in worl

THE MIDDLE PILLAR

himself a microcosm of the macrocosm,2 a reflection of the universe, a world within himself, ruled and governed by his own divinity, can he escape from the wheel. it is the achievement of this one realization which all schools of mysticism, magic, and various forms of occult teachng refer to as the great work.3 the great work is not accomplished overnight, or even in one lifetime. but the sooner the aspirant undertakes the task, the sooner will it be finished, and the quicker will he be released from the cycle of necessity, the wheel of evolution to which common humanity is bound. millions of years may pass in the normal process of evolution before the mass of mankind will reach the state of freedom whch those few individuals who apply themselves to this work can accomplish in a fraction

the so-called banishng ritual of the pentagrams is a vital techruque designed to eliminate undesirable elements from the psychc sphere, and thus to permit the process of consciousness expansion to proceed without harm or hndrance. the use of the archaic exercise referred to as the middle pillar will increase the field of attention, aid in the achievement of balance and equilibrium, and unfold to the aspirant a completely new and remarkable sphere of power and spiritual perception. v i i iin troductiotno the seconedd ition every techruque of magic is intended in various ways to widen the field of vision of the conscious ego to the deeper, more spiritual aspects of the divine nature-which, in reality, is his true or higher self. of the numerous techruques available in the vast armamentarium

ition. it is eternal truth, wisdom, and love. it is light and life. this is what you should imagine flowing freely through every pore of your body and mind. regular practice of this exercise is designed to bring the student to a hgh level of divine consciousness. every aspect of mystical experience and knowledge may be brought fully into play during this meditation. although it is an extension of the aspirant's earlier work, this meditation is designed to bring about a true realization concerning the infinity of the eternal spirit and the complete fulfillment of the divine within. many of these exercises require that the student lie on the floor to get the maximum benefit. however, as one relaxes and lets go of all tension, there is always the possibility of falling asleep. this is not a p

t. this method is based on a type of behavior modification therapy. keep in mind that there is nothing moralistic in this procedure. the student who undertakes this practice is not "avoiding (bad) vices in favor of (good) virtues" the point is to strengthen the will, which in and of itself is neither good nor bad. ths exercise is a disciplinary vow that a certain habitual action will be denied by the aspirant. in order to perform this techruque properly, the student should deliberately set a goal which is not in any way connected with a "bad" habit, such as smoking, swearing, or drinking. an impersonal and guilt-free attitude of detachment should be maintained. the aspirant should select a personal idiosyncrasy such as tapping the foot to music, saying a certain word, or crossing the legs

in order to make an enduring impression on the art of relaxation 157 the student's mind. this can be done either by administering a light shock as described above, or by denying oneself something that is pleasurable. this technique accomplishes two h g s. first, a constant vigilance is established whch generates a potent will power. second, the mind itself is placed gradually under the control of the aspirant's will. ths in turn helps the student's faculty of concentration immensely. the rite of elemental equilibration one of the goals of magical work is to bring to the student an awareness of the inner elemental make-up of h s or her psyche. ths awareness also includes the ability to experience the elements5 and balance them in equal portion within the mind. it is vitally important that a

THE STAR IN THE WEST BY CAPTAIN FULLER A CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE WORKS OF ALEISTER CROWLEY

n only be realized by following the noble eightfold path. this intimate connection between sorrow and desire, as we have seen, is vividly described by crowley in many of his poems. in gthe nameless quest h we find the yearning gfor one beyond all song. h *the temple of the holy ghost, vol. i, p. 189. in gthe triumph of man h we again find the same idea crystallized, but in gthe ultimate voyage, h the aspirant, on his spiritual journey towards the supreme knowledge, at one point on his journey all but attains nirvana. in many other poems do we find this idea of nirvana. in gwhy jesus wept h we have: thy flower-life is shed into eternity, a waveless lake *why jesus wept, vol. iii, p. 41. which reminds us of sir edwin arnold fs: om, mani padme, om! the dewdrop slips into the shining sea! agai

hrough marsh and mire, down dale and o fer hill, deep through the frozen forest, and the broad sun-scorched plain, over seas and oceans, over continents, and worlds, far, far through universes and systems, past stars, past comets and suns, deep into the depths of unutterable mystery; and there through the aons midst, the birth of worlds, in the very womb of time sunk on some fleeting asteroid, is the aspirant, go hope! o hope! where hast thou led me, ever near me, never with me? h gon, on, o weary one, past man, past gods, on, on to the rim of time h: then from the parched lips bursts the echoing cry, gagnosco, agnosco. h the hyperbola of time, the parabola of infinity, lie far to the north in the hyperborean regions of the unknowable. knowledge is but a ring smitten into the face of the w

changing shadowland into the full blaze of the sunlight; in the words of the qabalist, gto attain to the crown, h and those of the christ, gto be one with the father. h now a curious vista opens out before our gaze, and it is this; a man or woman to become an adept need neither possess great intellect, great genius, nor great knowledge, in fact, in many cases the more ignorant and crass have been the aspirants, the more speedy has been their illumination (christ the carpenter; for the less have they had to conquer, and the lower, and therefore less rational, have been their symbols. gmost others, especially hinduism and buddhism, lose themselves in metaphysical speculation only proper to those who are already adepts. h*1. ignorance or knowledge have nothing to do with illumination any more

, and in the west by magic. gthus east and west from a to z agree c h* in the east, by an entirely artificial and scientific method, in the west by a stimulation and sudden outflowing of the poetic faculty. the east, we may take it, is almost entirely static; whilst the west is wholly dynamic. yet their methods, whatever they may be, ultimately harmonize (as everything ultimately must do, leading the aspirant through various stages of illuminism, till he stands out from the illusions of his birth, and becomes one with that higher glow of glory in exalted states of ecstasy or samadhi *pentecost, vol. ii, p. 173. crowleyanity has now led us through the realms of sceptical idealism, in which rationalism has been found completely wanting as a constructive force, and through which we have trave

they are. their nature know! act! nor for faith nor folly turn! the hour is nigh when man and wife, knowing, shall worship face to face, beget and bear the royal race *gargoyles, vol. iii, pp. 85, 86. this is the divine union of the active y with the passive hwh formulating tetragrammaton, and of the c descending upon the hwhy formulating christ* it is the old story of devaki or of mary, in which the aspirant falling into an ecstatic state, is visited by the divine essence; in the one case under the form of mahadeva, in the other under that of the holy spirit; and losing consciousness of all worldliness, in a boundless bliss the divine child is conceived *similarly with one voice eckart and tauler, ruysbroek and suso exclaim: garise, o man! realize the end of thy being: make room for god w

THOUGHTS ON SETH

matics and information theory, and indeed any of the esoteric sciences especially the dangerous ones, like nuclear physics. seth does represent darkness of course, but seth is also aiwass/prometheus, the "spark" in the darkness, the "black flame" of intelligence and will. this is indicated by the white triangle on the black ground that is the badge of the heirus. seth gives the grips and words to the aspirant, the symbolic secrets of the gods. seth gives power, including ethical power, the power to choose one's will, to "do that, and no other shall say nay" seth has a very luciferian aspect (i believe there are luciferian aspects to high degree scottish masonry) seth is the bringer of intelligence, and by personifying the darkness, he is the avatar of the knowledge of the good and evil; wi

TYSON DONALD NEW MILLENNIUM MAGIC

lips will become dry. you will swallow, you will shift about in your seat. small noises will soon be magnified into thunder. your mind will race like an engine out of control. and any time you focus your attention on these matters you will be turning away from the voice of your guardian. the grimoires and the sacred texts of christian mysticism and the kabbalah lay down various harsh regimes for the aspirant who wishes to attain the conver- sation of the guardian angel. to become inwardly still requires that the seeker set aside the world and, in effect, become a holy person totally dedicated to the light, for a time at least. all forms of stimulation must be avoided, even those seemingly harmless, because they distract the mind from truth. you may not wish to hear that the only way you c

TYSON DONALD SOUL FLIGHT

on the tree that was occultly linked in the golden dawn system with the astrological sun and with the messiah, resulting in a significant degree of spiritual enlightenment (see the illustration in chapter 13. aleister crowley was an enthusiastic advocate of both pathworking and rising on the planes, and emphasized the importance of these techniques in his 1929 work magick in theory and practice "the aspirant should remember that he is a microcosm. he should make it his daily practice to travel on the astral plane, taking in turn each of the most synthetic sections, the sephiroth and the paths. these being thoroughly understood, and an angel in each pledged to guard or to guide him at need, he should start on a new series of expeditions to explore the subordinate sections of each. he may t

it again and again. at first, it is likely to be fragmented or vague, too much for your mind to comprehend, and a confusion of sounds and colors. indeed, theosophists describe the first perception of the astral world as nothing but vaguely defined forms. the tibetan sage who instructed alice a. bailey wrote that "the appearance of the astral plane when first definitely seen by the 'opened eye' of the aspirant is one of dense fog, confusion, changing forms, interpenetrating and intermingling colors, and is of such a kaleidoscopic appearance that the hopelessness of the enterprise seems overwhelming. it is not light, or starry or clear. it is apparently impenetrable disorder, for it is the meeting ground of forces."236 this description exaggerates the experience of most astral travelers, who

WESTERN MANDALAS OF TRANSFORMATION SR AL

a. is given in the book, meditations on the tarot (1991) by valentin tomberg (who here calls himself anonymous, in his reflection on the temperance key(#14. it is truly an inspirational chapter where he explains, from a hermetic point of view, the functions of the h. g. a: to guard, cherish, protect, visit and defend. there are many other excellent books on angels available today that can deepen the aspirant's relationship with his or her h. g. a. this is an age in which humankind is being visited by angelic beings in a way perhaps never known in recorded history. these techniques for forming a telesmatic image of an angelic figure can be successfully used with any angel or archangel. although there are other color scales. in the golden dawn tradition there are four, which correspond to t

gement called aibam. one can begin to get clues of how to establish a relationship with these 231 gates by making flashing color tablets of these letters and it would serve as a very useful meditation exercise. one can also substitute tarot keys, since in case's interpretation they evoke the same energy. the revelations connected to these particular pairs of gates are seldom written about because the aspirant needs to discover them him or herself. at the threshold, one must forge one's own tools. it must be understood that daath is not meant here to supplant chesed as the fourth sephira; it is simply an alternate method of pairing the spheres with the gates represented by the mystical combinations of the letters. in the kabbala denudata, the spheres have their own names using the letters i

ZALEWSKI SECRET INNER ORDER RITUALS OF THE GOLDEN DAWN OCR

the latter, you could touch the genius. now this transference of consciousness from ruach to neschamah is one object of the ceremony of the 5=6 ritual: it is a thing which will be more readily understood when the grade of adeptus minor is reached. it is especially intended to effect the change of the consciousness into the neschamah, and there are places where it can take place. the first is when the aspirant is on the cross, because he is so exactly fulfilling the symbol of the abnegation of the lower self and the union with the higher self; there is also the invocation of the angel h.u.a. the second place is when he touches the rose of the representative of c.r. in the vault, when he has taken on himself the symbols of suffering and self sacrifice, and says that his victory is in the cro

ss of the rose. the third place is when he enters the vault in the third point and kneels down, and the chief adept says al am the reconciler with the ineffable: i am the dweller of the invisible: let the white brilliance of the divine spirit descend" in these three cases a possible exchange of consciousness from the ruach into the neschamah is initiated, so that whether he understands it or not, the aspirant actually approaches his own genius (there are some cases where the genius may have attained a height and fallen: that is when, having touched the ruach in one incarnation, it has been so wrought upon by the sufferings of the lower part, that it has for the moment consented to slaken the tension of their union. now if the genius part, instead of identifying itself with the god part, id

ternal life from above, and then, as if in a supreme moment "i am the lord of life, triumphant over death, and there is no part of me that is not of the gods (that is the voice of kether) this again is followed by a synthetical culmination, as if all the divine ones united in the utterance "i am the preparer of the pathway, the rescuer unto the light! out of the darkness let the light arise" then the aspirant is prompted to say "before, i was blind, but now i see" representing again the blindness to the neschamah consciousness and the passage into this. whereupon the chief adept says: am the reconciler with the ineffable! i am the dweller of the invisible; let the white brilliance of the divine spirit descend" the aspirant is now told to rise an adeptus minor of the rose of ruby and the cr

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