There seems to be a type of our art that has perhaps come to an ultimately graceless position more than any other; this certainly does not refer to the moral or ethical aspect, but to the one that is deeply statistically related to pure failure – by applying techniques, results of techniques, purposes of techniques, and, above all, forecasts and prognoses. It is what we call extrasensory ability – the ability to obtain information about a particular idea from another plane, without our senses as the main factor. Admittedly, it is quite encouraging that they are only a spontaneous trigger for obtaining information. Still, it seems that once the mind gets hooked up to the source, the voltage, the type, or shape of a receiver is of very little importance. Whether it is through touch, smell, sight, it is always a matter of a transcendent sensation – it could be smelled, but without your nose, you can touch but not with your fingers, you see with your sight – not with your eyes. It is difficult to explain, but it is an abstract way in which our mind enters into a completely broader dimension of understanding. And then, once its loom has expanded, it weaves what it pleases. And you are indeed a participant in the game of divine creation. If we study the whole thing thoroughly, we will see that it is, like lucid dreaming, one of those touchstones where reason and imagination stumble together, falling down like two drunkards one over another.
Basically, this section of our art boils down to two significantly different types; in the first, we receive information while we are present in this realm; that is to say, we are the instruments through which ideas and intelligences come to us. In the second kind, it is quite the opposite – we cushion our child’s mind into a devil’s cradle, and then we rush toward the stars in a hurry – until the child has woken up. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages, and worst of all, they are equally wrong – both from the perspective of induction (how the mechanism is created) and deduction (how the meaningfulness of the mechanism is maintained).
In the life of the Neophyte, there is a special place in the exploration of visions, but he must not equate it with the experience of the astral projection or the projection of the body of light. He certainly begins to explore subtle planes like adolescents explore their own sexuality, and they both have the same fate – an experience of great disappointment. The first one with a reason because he does not perceive anything books tell him to, while he is not allowed to use anything other than statements from those books. Either way, they both stay stuck in their room for hours, trying to do what they have set off to do. And here we come to the first serious problem – it is precisely hours, making them become spiritually and physically impotent for any real work. They have already partly reconciled with the fact that it is all an illusion and that they are destined to fail, unlike all others who fulfill the duties of providence on a daily basis. Any work with visions that lasts more than 45 minutes should simply be declared as plague and specially recorded in a diary, cloistered in mental quarantine where you should pay full attention to what the hell went wrong. Every force, even that of the distant Æthyr, starts to vibrate and feel on the cerebral cortex just like a drug, very quickly. Sometimes it is just a few minutes, sometimes up to half an hour, but anything beyond that is a sure sign that something went wrong, and instead of pursuing further misfortune, we have to stop the mind right there while we are still fresh, declaring a total failure. At the same time, one should continue to record with close attention all the facts that have preceded and are still working in mind – excessive attention, heart beating, excessive coldness or enthusiasm, delight, fear of failure, excessive obsession with details, and excessive isolation are just some of the catastrophic mistakes. The Aspirant must know that talking to Astaroth is no different from calling a neighbor and asking for a Wi-Fi code; the mental framework in both acts is entirely interchangeable.
We shall consider one thing at a time. The first and most important is like a scale for a musician. Mastering this is not a condition to play a piece, but it will allow us time to prepare – both physically and mentally for the best that is yet to come – and it is about binding the mind. It is undoubtedly neither mental calming, relaxation, nor Pranic deep breathing. These are all excellent preconditions, but the core of success is far from all mentioned. I immediately move on to this because I have really attended such poor sessions that it is a miracle of Lazarus they ended in failure at all. I expected the ultimate debacle, in any case. It is like an evening where we all play the same movie. We hope that there is some chance that a movie ends differently than it was shot and watched in the same way and conditions a million times. We all expect and believe in that famous different end of the film, but deep down in our souls knowing that this film shall end exactly the same way as that film was made, always with the same ending. Our hope is diametrically opposed to our knowledge, and as much as we know it will end that way, we will falsely hope that it will not.
Everything we need here could fit in just two words, and that is – the peripheral vision. We really want Aspirants to deal with this topic because it is equally essential for achieving trance, having visions, as well as for astral projections. The peripheral vision is for scrying what foreplay is for a sexual act. While everything can be done without it, one should lack any will or time to skip such a remarkable step. In fact, this is not a step; this is more precisely just an inch away from experience and the beginning of success itself. The moment the peripheral view is focused properly, the vision begins to take shape parallelly, and such a specific trance occurs at the same time, which is entirely authentic for the practice of obtaining visions. Once the Aspirant has experienced it, it will be much easier to obtain this phenomenon by the mere reminiscence of this unique condition.
Let us advance further; all we really need to prepare for is to get our eyes used to looking fixedly at one point without blinking. As in his gradual progress in Asana and Pranayama, the Aspirant is framed by timing in this case, too; he will see that after a few tens of seconds, he has an almost unbearable burning sensation in his eyes, the feeling of uneasiness growing over time. Right then, it is very important that you do not look with closed eyelids, like squinting, but with your eyes bravely opened, as if you want to provoke tears to burst. Here, such burning can be really scary, but if the Aspirant invests all his efforts trying to keep his eyes open while trembling in tears. He will reach one exalted state at one point, in which he will easily keep his eyes open, without any problems and tears. There is an additional aggravating variant here, where it is good to open the eyes even more – to the very limits – once there is burning, and tears start appearing. This movement trains the entire ocular apparatus even more and prepares the eye channels for a long-term fixed gaze. Let the Aspirant naturally prolong the time of unbearable burning and shedding tears each day, but let him persevere to his utmost limits each time, allowing tears to clear all the possible dirt and prolong the time of keeping his eyes open without blinking. At one point, and it will not be more than a couple of days or weeks, he will suddenly be shocked by the fact that he is able to continue looking at the same spot expecting irritation in his eyes, but without any soreness even minutes after. When this is accomplished, let him open his eyes even more as if staring, squeezing the last tear. As unpleasant and almost painful as the previous appearance of discomfort was, this period is quite different; pleasantness and completely miraculous warmth will radiate from his eyes. After the exercise, let the Aspirant close his eyes and press his palms lightly on the eyelids, thus spreading this wonderful heat and nourishing the entire eye mechanism – which consists not only of the eyeball and lens but of the entire system of tiny muscles, nerves, and ligaments that nest the eye.
The Aspirant should persist in this preliminary period and enjoy that feeling of warmth in his eyes while looking intently; he will certainly notice that this kind of watching is very pleasant and beneficial to his overall health. He will almost feel that the circulation of energy from his eyes has now redirected the inner work of his being. The whole essence of this segment is to learn to focus on a single spot point without blinking and endure as much as possible until we have reached a state where we can look for a long time without tears dropping from our eyes. This is quite enough for it to become one of those simple lifelong practices. But, for the purpose of our quest, we will undoubtedly continue even further.
What the Aspirant will do once he has reached this condition, and that is really no more than 3 to 4 weeks in the most unfortunate case, is the complete the opposite of this, that is to say, instead of focusing all attention on one spot, now that same attention should be extended to the rims of the field of sight – to peripheral vision. We certainly know that when we stare directly at a pale star, we see it much weaker than focusing on something nearby while keeping our attention to the same star. The peripheral vision which we do not employ at looking directly at the object of attention is much more sensitive to light, and it serves as a link to inner worlds. Here we come to critical details – when having visions, we need to look at an object that is dark in its nature, not bright in any case. We need relaxed eyes and dilated pupils, but light makes it all biologically impossible. Therefore, it is best to stare into a dark ball and even into a drawn black circle. You can have the most ordinary sphere and repaint it in a matte black color – as mentioned, avoid bright colors that make your awareness alert instead of snoozing. Not to sleep, but to take a nap; the difference there is the contrast between complete success and a fiasco. You can paint a small mirror too; there are no limits or restrictions other than the ones you set for yourself. The distance should be half a meter or less; one should find comfort but not pleasure, by no means. There must be a small dose of discomfort and compulsion in that range; the object being looked at is passively awaited, something quite similar to fishing – expecting a bobber to go down.
Let us, therefore, get to the point: you will focus on the object in front of you until there have been minutes of continuous watching without blinking; you will notice gentle warmth in the eyes, putting you to drowsiness at the same time. Then, you will notice quite a miraculous circumstance. Your focus slowly starts to drift, and, parallelly, there is a shift in your consciousness. Trance will appear with an almost automatic mechanism. The object begins to recede, escaping our field of vision, and slowly but surely, the most important thing in all this art begins to unfold, which is to obtain a specific dark cobweb across our field of vision.
Exactly then, our attention should be focused not on the object we are staring at but on peripheral vision. This dark cobweb that begins to form in our field of vision seems to merge the blackness of the object being looked at and the blackness of peripheral vision, subtly and cunningly trying to merge these two kinds of darkness. As time passes and as our eyes relax more, this black cobweb begins to eat out all the remaining light of our field of vision, until it completely reaches the center starting from the rim, in a short moment achieving complete darkness, exactly like the one have when we keep eyes closed. But that event lasts for only a few moments before our sight recovers. The longer we keep our eyes open with the observation of peripheral vision, the more frequently the cobweb will be pulled over our field of vision and with longer duration. It must be noted that all light, which must undoubtedly be dimmed and very mild, must be behind our backs and that it must not be reflected in any form toward our eyes. We have to create darkness in which one could see – that is a really convenient explanation of the atmosphere we need.
At some point, this black cobweb covers our entire field of vision and thus becomes three-dimensional plasticine on which our Will gets imprinted – it is exactly the same principle and mechanism which is there when we sleep, but unlike before, we now imprint in this plasticine what we intend to; we will insert the germ of an idea that will start to play on that cobweb like a child in a cradle, elaborating that idea in unthinkable directions. That black cobweb is by no means black; there is one extremely effective way to show you what it looks like. I want you to close your eyes now and press your eyelids with your index fingers, not too slightly but a bit more aggressively. I want you to feel your eyeballs behind the eyelids and press them with your fingers toward the skull; very soon, flashes of light and beautiful colors begin to appear. They are usually yellow, green, and violet, starting to play in front of your field of vision – all those sparks of light and liveliness. But you should stare at the rim all the time and do not focus by no means at that colors which start to form. You will see them moving – they are quite lively and very interesting organisms. Observe them, and you will see them grow over time in their shape and form. Colors will become more intense and forms more concrete; those are usually geometrically simple forms that change shape while merging. That dark cobweb is of exactly the same material as this darkness now – both are equally ideal soil for cultivating visions. This is how a dream is created, but we are not aware of it. Now that you have removed your fingers from your eyelids and opened your eyes, everything will be blurred, and you will be temporarily even blinded – which is an indication that you have performed well. This is an extremely important period in your life of a magician – you have learned to stare properly into the dark, allowing it to be anything but dark. With proper training, it will become a playground for the most sublime wonders. A similar thing can be achieved by doing the following: simply turn off the light in your room in the evening, keep your eyes open, and do not blink. Wait for a while, and very quickly, your field of vision will be attacked by the same pest in the form of a dark acid of nothingness that penetrates and eats everything visible. At some point, everything will be enveloped in that cobweb, and you will not know whether you are keeping your eyes open or closed due to all that darkness. In the beginning, it will all be short-lived, partly because of your excitement, which is as deadly to obtaining visions as it is deadly for obtaining sleep. This is a well-known effect of going to bed knowing that we will wake up early and focus on the intention that we need to fall asleep as soon as possible. And, of course, that thought keeps bouncing around through our minds until dawn. You do not need attention or excitement; you need passivity and dispassion – as if slightly anticipating someone that you know is not likely to come.
There is one mortal enemy in all of this, and that is focusing. In fact, attention to focusing is the correct term; you need to keep your eyes wide open all the time and keep your attention on the perimeter of the circle that makes up your field of vision – have a look at what is “beyond” it. You will see that it is of exactly the same material as that dark cobweb. In fact, this phenomenon starts to work from the periphery, so when you start looking at a ball or a mirror, I want you to dedicate yourself entirely to focusing on that circle from the very beginning, which is, in fact, so far from the center of sight. You will soon notice a wonderful circumstance; the more you keep your attention on the peripheral vision, the more you will deepen the trance, and your sense of the physical body will diminish to such an extent that when a dark cobweb covers your field of vision, you will completely lose your sense of the physical body. All this should not last more than 30 minutes, and you should definitely try not to practice for less than 15. Do this constantly, and every day; this is a game that will take on the form of the most serious saga. This way of looking is such a brilliant aid in a kind of astral projection, which we will certainly talk about later. When done the way we have explained so far, the astral projection is achieved in less than 15 to 20 minutes from the moment of being fully awake until the stepping at the astral plane.
There is a slightly different but exceptional way to receive visions, without looking at an aid, where trance is not needed at all – because trance, when this has been performed correctly, gets realized automatically and instantly. When you close your eyes and squeeze your eyeballs quite gently, as if sucking them in toward the center of your skull, and turn your look almost imperceptibly inward – as if you were looking at the back of your head; the feeling is extremely subtle and pleasant, something like an urge to yawn. At that moment, the mind begins to wander, rendering completely random images; and our Will can turn this randomness into guidance and a journey of the most fantastic kind. The nature of visions obtained in this way is of far less intensity, but the advantage is the speed of acquiring visions; a trained mind can have them in just a few seconds – this is also a great method to put oneself to sleep. Falling asleep is also easily achieved if our eyes mimic the movement they have during the REM phase. With his eyes closed, the Aspirant circles with his look, imitating the movements in the REM phase – gentle circular movements where his look is not fixed anywhere, which is the most important thing. He must not focus at all; in fact, it is not about circular but rather spiral movements – the eyes must never stay at one point but have to move all the time randomly. This is one of the most effective remedies for insomnia.
It is absolutely irrelevant what you are looking at in a scrying affair, whether it is a picture of a deity, a small black ball, a letter, or a number. Attaching any moral value to a purely physiological phenomenon is inappropriate and of no benefit to the Aspirant, and in no way will the very object of staring affect the success of the experiment. It is by far best to use black crystal balls and mirrors rather than all other possible and impossible variants of decorative balls from the Tibetan plateaus, encrusted with precious stones of infinite value. I personally got the most sublime visions by staring into semi-darkness, not looking anywhere in particular – without mirrors or balls. In addition to the fact that darkness boosts the secretion of melatonin, it perfectly allows an open-eyed vision to be covered with black cobweb, which is a preliminary condition of any vision. And once it starts to shape up, the entire period to get a full vision was usually no more than 15 minutes. It is very significant to understand the mechanism itself; the choice of tools is more a matter of one’s affinities and style.
Fortunately, there are remarkable ways to show the Aspirant what is the way to “look” in order to be able to have a vision. What we can say is that this simple exercise can save years of effort; all it takes is to spot 16 circles in the next picture. At first glance, you will not see any, but if you now pay attention to your peripheral vision or the perimeter of your field of vision, you will see all 16. Once you have caught all 16 circles, you will certainly notice that your gaze is significantly different than usual; therefore, spend some time looking at these 16 circles, squinting and not blinking for a while. Practice this way of looking once a day for a few minutes. Once you can see these 16 circles, continue without interruption, not letting the circles get lost for a moment; and if you now add the vibration of a divine name or a letter to this, this will turn into the magick of the highest kind.
What follows next is also a precious exercise, in which the Aspirant has to look with a distant focus so as to see a single circle instead of two. Try to notice a cross that will appear at the junction of the horizontal and the vertical line until those 2 points merge into one. When this happens, you can say that your look has been well-calibrated to obtain visions.
It is a very specific state of consciousness that unveils itself when you are gazing in this way. In addition to being conducive to obtaining astral visions, it is very pleasant and refreshing, almost like taking a nap. Just 20 minutes of looking this way can invigorate you like a couple of hours of good sleep.
Once we have learned to look properly, there is an inevitable question – where at? Will we re-construct the complicated network of symbols we collect every night anyway, or will we make an improved version of our own dream out of this all? The first thing one Neophyte certainly finds appropriate is to work with astral visions, which are perhaps best represented by dealing with Tattvas and flashing colors. Tarot is a convenient territory for exploring this method; Zodiac signs, planets, and elements are great keys to entering subtle planes as well, and there are certain things we need to adhere to. To adhere, not to obey. Once again, to adhere and not obey.
Tattvas have one peculiarity – the mechanism that encourages success is in flashing colors – as when you are looking at the Sun and then close your eyes, you see quite clearly the Sun disk in a complementary color – that is, in purple which is very concrete and clear – you see it under your closed eyelids like a real Sun, as if the power of the Sun has imprinted its shape in the eyes that now see it quite clearly. In working with Tattvas, it is a completely identical thing as earlier, when we pressed our closed eyelids with our index fingers, precisely the same type of color gets drawn in the blackness of our closed field of vision. But with Tattvas, there are more details that result in deeper experiences.
Tattvas are symbols of elements; they are the Morse code for the Tetragrammaton, just as there are 4 plus one elements, so each of these elements will have a sub-element, thus forming a group of 16 or rather 25 combinations. Each main element has 5 secondary ones. The elements are strictly separated by different geometric figures that do not hint at each other and are painted in a specific color. What particularly interests us is that each combination is a key to opening an elemental realm with all its inhabitants that participate in the mysteries of that element – and with whom our soul intends to communicate with. In the language of psychology, we become aware of parts of our own being as the elements are parts of our soul – Air as intellect, Water as emotions, etc. In other words, exploring the inner realms of Tattvas through visions contributes to the perception of our Self, its currents, and the mapping of our individuality where we become aware of what we only think we know and what we do not even know we know. This way, the completeness of our being progresses further, that is, deeper – toward the final realization of the Pure Will.
It is like buying an apartment on the outskirts of a town; first, we meet our neighbor next door, then we meet the whole floor, then the entire building, and then the whole area, making our stay in the house grow into general comfort which we then call home. We are widening the circle of trust and, what is more important, the circle of expectations to which we have a friendly attitude. In this circle, we set the conditions for our growth. It offers security and motivation needed to start exploring what really interests us – what is outside that circle. Out of the neighborhood. Out of our comfort zone.
Working with Tattvas is a little different than when we looked at the “dark cobweb” – as I call activating peripheral vision. Getting started with Tattvas is always with your eyes wide open. As in any work with visions, we first relax slightly and breathe rhythmically to cushion ourselves into a different and somewhat altered state of consciousness. A full trance is not necessary, but we definitely need a great deal of relaxation. After about 10 minutes of relaxation, and that is how long each preliminary introductory practice should last before visions take place, we gaze at Tattvas against a black background with our eyes wide open. They are usually of bright and vivid colors; watching them disrupts the calmness we achieved earlier. Looking at Tattvas must not be for long – not only would it arouse you from relaxation, but also increase your attention. In this way, our mind understands Tattvas as a phone call that no one answers, which will be enough to set the alarm off – waking us up and causing additional neurosis. What is needed is to gaze into Tattvas for about 30 seconds to a maximum of 1 minute. We want the shape of a Tattva to be engraved in our field of vision – but only the physical; looking for a short time will prevent the importance and exclusivity of the work from appearing and thus restore daily attentive awareness. After that short time, we abruptly close our eyes, as an extremely interesting thing arises here – in the blackness of our eyelids, we will see quite a shape of Tattva clearly drawn in a complementary color; therefore, if we look at a yellow square, we will see a purple one. Now comes an important moment of this whole operation – if we have to focus straight on that purple square with our eyes closed all the time, that shape will weaken over time – eventually, we will look at an empty area of black eyelids. But we will resort to being cunning – the first few seconds of focusing on a square will contribute to its clear appearance in front of us, and instead of continuing to stare at it, we will now make a move that will confuse our mind – we will shift focus by continuing to look “through” a square, and not directly “at” it. At first, it may be a rather awkward and vague instruction, but here is what it is all about. Place your right index finger in front of you at a distance of about 15 cm while placing your left finger directly behind it at the same distance – which means 30 cm from your eyes. What I want now is to focus your sight on your right index finger and hold that focus for 10 seconds. Now comes the main thing – immediately after those 10 seconds, shift focus and look at your left index finger behind the right one – this way, you will see the front right index finger doubled, looking at your left finger “through” it. You have just learned to shift focus at will, and all this is indeed an excellent occurrence about working with visions.
Now, I want you to put this ability to use the moment you see a Tattva in a complementary color with your eyes shut. First, focus your eyes on a shining square, waiting for a few seconds for the vision to intensify, then change the focus and look “through” it. Considerably astonished, you will notice that it has “increased” and keeps increasing as you are looking “through” and “behind” it.
Aright then, your consciousness will equally begin to change because all this now seems intoxicating to your mind, which will receive the information that something is “approaching.” And it is in our best interest to take full advantage of it. Now, I want you to imagine with your mind a Tattva continuing to grow and yourself going through it, like through a door. This movement of passing through a Tattva is a universal mechanism of passing through all the inner worlds. This passage is only an instinctive command to your mind that will then project the entire experience the way you had wished before the entire experiment; that is to say, you have been a conductor of your own dream, like children who watch an evening horror movie and dream of its sequel – which is usually a much worse version than the film itself. It is exactly the same mechanism that acts upon the Aspirant’s mind. We want all this so badly and put it under the control of our spirit, which is now gaining completely new dimensions of inner experiences. An extremely important element, perhaps the most important, is to look “behind” and move away from the focus that instantly changes consciousness, in the same way as the appearance of a three-dimensional cobweb. In fact, we are already on the other side then; what is missing is only the confirmation, the movement of “passing” the body through an enlarged object in front of us, even though we have already moved to a higher plane.
The Aspirant must accept that any experience he gains after “passing” through a Tattva or any other astral door is as valid and valuable to him. Even if nothing happens, he really has to analyze that “nothing” – what shape it was, why he got nothing instead of something. Did he feel nervous, reluctant? What is the experience of that nothing? He must know that his mind reacts and receives impressions even when thinking none of this is actually happening. The difference between a master who explores the deepest astral plane and a beginner who looks into the blackness of his eyelids waiting for something to happen is only that the beginner is waiting for something that has already been happening behind his back. At the same time, both the master and the student get the same picture, but one of them looks in a different direction. Everything happens for a reason; every feeling, every failing, everything the Aspirant seems to see or even wishes to see, is the result and projection of the subtle plane. An experience does not have to be of a visual type; one should understand that passing through a Tattva or any other astral plane is supersensible and out of perception in the classical sense of the word. The Aspirant must act and imagine what he would see if the vision started happening right now in front of his eyes. Would he still see nothing? Or maybe he would hear a voice from the side? Let him turn to that voice, what would he see – if he wanted to succeed, would he want to see a person, maybe an animal, or something completely abstract, maybe a color? The cunning trick that introduces mastery here is for the Aspirant to pretend and imagine success simply. It would take an enormous amount of time before he realized that all the time he had really been looking at a vision, which he himself previously only thought he had intentionally constructed; now, it is a vision that had been manipulating him all the time to manifest before his eyes. He must understand that both him, his vision, and his eyes are only a part of one and the same apparatus, and even when he has completely failed, it is precisely the desire of that mechanism to manifest in this way. It is a success that awaits; it is a vision that patiently teases the Aspirant. There is no failure in obtaining a vision; it is only a vision that has not been successfully interpreted. The white noise does not mean that there is no signal, but there has been no perceived signal, which is completely different thing.
Once the Aspirant has found himself “behind,” that is, within a Tattva, he will realize that he has come to a completely different environment where this “different” mostly refers to his consciousness. The difference between planes is like the difference between being drunk and sober. Both states are “yours,” and the more “yours” changes, the more the perception of the reality in which we dwell changes. In fact, it is about the same “I” as the same reality, except that divine drunkenness made such a charming impression that both concepts have changed at all. It is similar with Tattvas; in addition to the fact that the ambiance is different in each Tattva, that is the element, the Aspirant must certainly notice which part of his being has awakened; what is the nature of his attention, enthusiasm, what are the qualities of his own mind in this experiment, and how different it is within each Tattva. These are all things that he must carefully record in his diary, and finally, upon his return, carry out a detailed analysis – both gematric and psychological, emotional, and completely human. This is not about plain mapping a new world as cartographers do and leaving it for future generations, but rather writing in detail what color the creature we encountered was, or its name, or what shape the whole astral plane we visited was, and how much time we spent there. Our path is not to check the accuracy and purpose of the reality in which we lived but to record its coordinates in our mind so that the eternal spirit may choose which way it will take once it has found its true nature.
Another way to use a Tattva is to stare at it until our field of vision gradually covers that black cobweb allowing it to absorb the nature of the Tattva we are looking at, tuning our own mind for the Tattva signal. We will be passive observers in this method; here, we will not go through the door of another world but observe everything from one position, allowing the vision to unfold before our eyes as if we were watching a play or some kind of a movie.
What is fatal in both ways is what is ultimately inevitable – and that is the interruption, that is, the loss of vision. This will undoubtedly happen, and the Aspirant can be significantly frustrated due to a break in the experience at the most critical moment, which all points to the fact that we have reacted in the wrong way. The first and most potent reason for failure is our delight – which was equally present right at the beginning – when the vision began to unveil – but also once it starts gaining in strength. We will notice that every vision is constructed by our mind to experience a specific climax at one point – that is, the place where we gain knowledge and the “eureka effect” that makes it all happen before our eyes – in precisely the same way as in the art of motion pictures. This is the punch line of the whole thing in which we have to keep our sensibility. One quite simple breathing cycle can restore a vision in detail, which is otherwise on the verge of complete collapse. Deep breathing 4+4 or 8+8 diverts our focus from the exciting scene and restores the stability of everything. Vibrating names and the visualization proved to be so disastrous and unsuccessful, though it has been repeated as a factor of stability for decades in a parrot-like manner. This is everything, but right, it is while vibrating and visualizing that we strain a string that is already about to burst. Instead of loosening it with something straightforward, we heat it with spotlights of fascination and complexity until it comes to such a horrible thing – the interruption of a vision. Vibration is intended for a later, very significant segment when the vision has already gained in purity and realization. Also, the pain in the body due to a lengthy Asana when the experiment has been performed equally returns from a vision; therefore, the success of a vision implies success in many other things, Dharana and Asana above all, as well as Trataka (the art of gazing without blinking), but a Neophyte has already got used to performing these techniques and principles of Yoga in his work.
There is another thing that threatens and growls to announce failure – stagnation in a vision. This is a fundamental instruction, which is so directly related to our skillfulness of lucid dreaming, and it deserves to be explained in detail. If this instruction has not been fully mastered, any serious pursuit of lucid dreams is merely impossible. At best, all we can expect is an experience of a few seconds to a maximum of one minute. At first, this will completely satisfy the eager Aspirant, but as time goes on, he will realize that he is turning round in circles and that he has to take a leap forward in quality.
Both in a vision and dream, you continuously have to move; you constantly have to go after new scents like a bloodhound from one place to another, from one corner to another until you have reached the main source. Practically speaking, at some point in a vision or a lucid dream, we will find ourselves staring at a particular astral landscape, person, or scene while being stuck in a completely frozen scene. There will be no further things to happen – exactly like taking a break while watching a movie. The scene has frozen; our attention and trance-like consciousness are now being returned to its usual range of action by the very fact that we will surely ask ourselves what is going on. We expect and long for the continuation of a vision but do nothing – and that is precisely the mechanism of interrupting everything; and we will now suddenly sit in Asana staring at a Tattva just a few moments after the stagnation and frozen scene, brought back entirely and without any possibility of returning back. What follows is an inevitable end to the experiment while recording any positive observations and conclusions. However, we could have done so much more had only we known the right way.
One of the proper ways to escape this trap is the active movement within a vision, observing and experiencing it from all angles. Examine the object in front of you from a distance, side, bottom, and from above, get to it as close as you can, touch it all around, scratch it – do this, aggressively and quite resolutely. The second way is somewhat different but equally valuable and useful, perhaps more effective than the first, which can also serve to deepen a vision in order to extend the time spent in it significantly. When there is a moment of stagnation and passivity, and it is always easy to recognize it – it is like slowing down a movie, freezing the scene, which is often present in our dreams before waking up or just before the nightmare, the eyes should be slightly narrowed as if you want to squeeze them but very lightly and subtly, imagining yourself looking back, into the center of your skull. The feeling that is created during such a way of watching is very specific. There is a certain type of drowsiness which seems to act instantly on the shift in a vision. This is such a remarkable way for a person to fall asleep, as we have mentioned earlier. One Aspirant can practice this kind of looking during wakefulness with his eyes closed, which makes his mind wander and creates completely random and authentic images. Indeed, a few minutes of looking like this is enough to put you to sleep; but what we need here is to unblock a vision from where it once has frozen. This kind of look also has a phenomenal effect on deepening the trance; not only will a vision be restarted, but it will also gain in its crystal clarity and deeper intensity. The clearer and better the vision, the easier it is to move within it and change the position from which we observe. In fact, one should boldly dare to say that there are two kinds of visions; yet, both are the same experience, whereby passive looking into the sphere directly ruling out specific mechanisms that lead to full projection in the body of light. There is a scrying vision, and there is a projection of the astral lucidity. There is a vision within, and there is a journey without.
A couple of tiny technical details result in such a different experience in the very “impression,” but it is actually always one kind of experience – whether it is a vision or an astral projection. Any deepening of a vision naturally leads to immersion in it with our astral body. It is just our Will before the experiment itself which prevents this mechanism from being fully activated. It leaves much more time at the disposal of a magician to spend in a vision, depriving him of participation in a fully three-dimensional movement within. It allows what is perhaps most important – especially in working with Tarot – to deviate from the path and peek “a bit on the side,” and expand the geography of the desired astral destination broadening the very experience of a particular map.
But notwithstanding all these remarks, there seems to be something which exalts the mind of a magician to such an extent – and that is his decision to call for the guidance of a particular sphere, once a vision has gained satisfactory firmness. This can never be done before that, and the Aspirant decides to take this step only when he is so satisfied with what he is looking at now that he can hardly distinguish between a vision as he is reading these letters and what he sees in front of him looking in a sphere or a mirror or some other aid.
Summoning a guide changes the path of experience completely; a clear desire for a vision to proceed according to its rules must be pronounced and clearly expressed. From that moment, a vision teaches the Aspirant; before that, it can be said that it was merely playing with him. However, we really want to turn learning into a game, and to combine these two principles by which the Aspirant will grow and progress. Some magicians are afraid to physically move their lips for fear that this will divert the mind from the inner perception back to a physical plane once sufficient clarity of a vision has been attained. But this fear has no ground once it has been practically experienced. On the contrary, calling a guide by name, or a simple lovely whisper by our physical lips seems to appeal to the mind like an act of looking back toward the center of our skull, which we have already mentioned. It deepens a vision; it does not weaken it in any way. Eventually, it could be weakened if performed prematurely and without a sufficient degree of clarity and image strength. Perhaps the most effective way is to vibrate a name gently, then let the image tremble under the vibration of a name as if while amplifying reception or tuning a station on the radio, trying to hear the radio station better by searching for the frequency. Let that vibration act on a vision like a bow on Chladni plate; it will consolidate the chaotic ideas our minds have previously put before our eyes, and no matter how beautiful they may be and full of gentleness, they may just be a wrong sequence of colors and shapes, which a vibrating name will now transform into something we can truly use. This is self-deception in itself – in this state, everything we imprint in mind will project realization – and by reading this instruction, you will achieve just that, reading all this and already trying to imagine passively in your head how it is done. And success has already been seeded in your mind – just now. There is considerable confusion among Aspirants as to how much vibrations should be repeated. One thing is for sure; the more, the worse. Although at first we may think that each subsequent vibration of a name additionally strengthens a vision, in fact, it is a catastrophic mistake caused by the logic of the mind that thinks differently from the one that resides in a vision. You will certainly be empowered, but not by a vision, but by a physical and disturbing sense. Instead of the Angel appearing in front of you in his royal costume, you will return back with your physical vision so empowered that you will see clearly the physical world with your physical eyes. Your mind is as happy as a vacuum cleaner seller; it triumphantly strengthened a vision to the point that it became completely useless.
Never focus on a single spot when vibrating a name in a vision. Instead, widen your eyes slightly, as if staring like an owl, and shift your focus to peripheral sight, as if looking at the entire circle at the end of the field of vision rather than the center of that circle, precisely the same as when we started having a vision. Repeat a name, once focusing, then toward the peripheral vision to feel a tremendous difference. The latter is like daydreaming, but far from unconsciousness. Let the Aspirant simply vibrate a name with full attention on the peripheral vision only once or twice; he must pay proper attention to the environment rejoicing in the sound of God-like fanfare. The guide has been around all the time, the vibration only revealed it; in any part of the vision, usually in the peripheral and unimportant part of it, vibration will illuminate that part, it will illuminate it a bit or make a noise, and the very moment Aspirant’s perception turns toward that unimportant part, that same attention deepens just as tremendously constructing the guide himself – in what suits us and is the easiest for our being to take such guidance. In the hidden hole from which the being now emerges, in the canopy of a tree, we did not pay much attention to, or in the sound behind us – we turn, completely change the landscape as well as the level of trance and behold in front of us something moving everything so drastically deeper and further into a new experience.
An Aspirant must always keep in mind that a guide is not an aspect of the element reflected in him – it is always an aspect of him that manifests itself in the element. It is a divine monologue; the encounter with the guide of the sphere is just one of the encounters with oneself. The dialogue with him is nothing but a dialogue with your Angel and intrigue with your own soul. The Angel transmits it in a magnificent way; he awakens the knowledge within you revealing what he has already known in a way as if you did not know it. This is a divine play above all, in the theater of stars, and the success in this play is in the understanding of the roles. Your role is to listen and watch what by the one who tells you and shows what you can understand and comprehend. But further on in our discussion, we can talk about forms and peculiarities of the experience that guides evoke in a vision.
First and foremost, this is a part of the vision that is utterly different in its atmosphere from the rest of the experience, which served only as a buffer zone for that purpose; although a vision without the appearance of a guide certainly has value and is a valuable lesson for the Aspirant, it can be said that the exclusion of a guide is always a great loss for the whole experiment. As much as hills and phantasmagoric plains, mountain peaks, elven cities, or demonic pits are always such a strong motivating element in the work of the Neophyte, a single encounter with a sphere guide really makes up for all these fantastic landscapes. The very form of the guide is really diverse, and it is useless to talk about it because the moment it has been mentioned, it starts an advance projection of the given constant, which has yet to be manifested in the vision openly and spontaneously in the mind of a practitioner.
An essential instruction is how a guide appears and what the mechanisms within the trance and consciousness are that must be met in order for the guide to “approach.” The most important trigger is in Aspirant’s conscious decision to halt the combustion of his astral image in the vision’s vehemence and summon the guide by intention and then by name. Vibrating the proper name never has an energy component nor move the vision but rather directs the Aspirant toward a certain detail that will trigger his trance in a deeper level by directing his attention. It is a trick of the mind, like an illusionist stretching out one hand, hiding what he is doing in the other from the glowing eyes of the audience; it is circus magic of the cheapest kind, but which has that fantastic epithet that so powerfully leads to the climax. Everything happens so fast that the mind does not manage to bring us back, which is certainly impossible if we naively start vibrating dozens of times, thinking that a guide is deaf and that the more we call him, the greater chances are for him to come. It is like a parent yelling at their child, increasingly repeating the child’s name in order for the child to feel sorry and come, sooner or later realizing that shouting and repeating the name only shows the weakness of the child’s own parent. But those quiet and clear calls, which take place gently and only once, are quite enough for the little ones to understand that things got serious. Summoning a guide by ceaseless vibration of the name has no function of fine-tuning a mind as much as awakening of a mind, and the lack of understanding of this mechanism results in a complete collapse of the vision.
Once the guide has been revealed and appeared, everything will be much simpler. This part is more passive, but certainly always willingly passive to listen to what is being said. Very often, the guide requires the Neophyte to follow him, and the landscape of the vision changes as he goes deeper and further through the experience. The very act of willingly accepting to follow the guide causes a specific change in the mind and is a sign that we are ready to receive the teaching that is meant for us. It is always such a lovely element of experience because the knowledge we gain has an infinite number of different forms – as many as there are different forms of guides. In such a way, one spark of light can reveal all the sorrow of a dying star; a tall, pale old man can explain our previous incarnation, or perhaps gathering of moss could acknowledge the meaning of life on whole Earth. By all means, the forms of manifestation are incessant, but the mechanism is quite simple, and when we determine it in our own mind, the following vision experiences will be easier to elicit and manifest. Going back to the wakefulness is something that the Neophyte should not be bothered with; the vision will be interrupted from the point where it was intended to happen, without any confirmation from the Aspirant. The moment he has been given what he asked for, everything will end without any excessive discussion or introduction. Let him not worry about stabilization but about the integration of experience. If experience is there to hurt him, then he should be hurt; if he gets scared or upset, let such a sequence of circumstances follow – even if he wants to, he can get nothing more or less than what he does deserve with his good soul. And let him praise the Lord as much as he thinks the Lord needs him.
Also, he must approach the task from the aspect of purely mental exercise. His being should place corresponding ideas the way he understands best. He should not limit himself by the thought that there is any realistic indication of the right path – let him do this for himself and the sake of his work. We will list some of the ideas preparing your mind to do the same, projecting the elemental worlds you are about to enter very soon.
But, in addition to all that has been said, one Neophyte must take care of the entirety of the operation, that is to say, however perfect and enduring a vision might be, the experience of the passage through a Tattva must incorporate the meaning of the vision into the magician’s concept of the Universe. Just as he initiated and looked at the vision from all angles, preventing it from disappearing and enhancing the clarity of the image, so he must guide its nature through all aspects of the Universe to his being in the same way; through the IHVH and IAO formulas. Let him, therefore, go through one Tattva, but facing each 4 different sides of the world, using elemental names and then comparing all 4 experiences. Let him then draw a general conclusion, let him clash each vision and side of the world with the other, let him see what is common in all visions, as well as what is unique in each of them. Let him extract and dissect each guide, attaching feature, and then, let him blend those properties to such an extent that he gets a completely new being. In the end, let him make the final judgment on the nature of the Tattva, but by no means being bound by any of the 4 experiences. He must not take them for granted and verbatim, and again, at the same time, he must embrace them in an extremely personal and selfish way.
Let him do all this in the same way with the IAO formula. Let him pass through the same Tattva but from the time corridor and experience its birth, growth, and cessation. Let it be born in a vision, let it grow, and finally, let it die in his mind. Let him choose names that correspond to this formula for vibration, and finally, let him take care to draw the ultimate conclusion about the nature of a Tattva again. How is it connected to and “what” does it have to do with the Aspirant, in what way does it manifest itself in his life, what is the nature of their mutual relations, what are the extremes in that action, deviations, transfers in the psyche? When does it occur, in which cases is it missing, though? He should not be afraid of abstraction or confusion. This is a language so complex for his mind that he will spend some time losing all meaning, which is an indication that he is on the right track and that his mind is adjusting to depths unthinkable prior to this grade. The ultimate goal here is originality in technique, not perfection in performance, because there are simply no such phenomena in our art. Imagination and intuition are the only nipples this infant will take strength from, and only in this way will this child develop into stellar uniqueness. We can only cite a model of thought, but in no way should an Aspirant take these suggestions for granted. Let them serve him only as an example to do something similar, or something completely different from all this. After all, let his work be his guide; at this grade, the Aspirant should already get used to recognizing his own talents and let him, therefore, develop them in his own way. Playing and experimenting are the only things that can be underlined as the highest principles. Everything else is extremely futile and vain work that brings frustration and, above all, failure. Hundreds and thousands of practitioners simply crave for the ability to have lucid dreams, partly because the only proper techniques are those that have not even been written down, while those that have been neither practiced nor verified are duly recorded and transmitted. It is just a matter of time before one generation will fail utterly in transmitting completely wrong mechanisms; the atrophied muscle of the mind, in this case, gives not only a wrong picture but also a wrong understanding of what is in front of our eyes all the time, only we are now looking in a completely wrong direction. Indeed, the Aspirant must become a child, not remain a child, which is the ultimate attainment of his learning. Let him, therefore, find endeavor and play in the gesture of the Knowledge and Conversation.
The Neophyte will certainly have opportunities to encounter a variety of bits of intelligence that can steer his work to unimaginable heights – but in the same way, disrupt his progress to the point where he can find himself wandering around the same thing for years without accepting any change that has been meant for him. They are different and exceptional kinds of guides – and their appearance will not be closely conditioned by our skill in clairvoyance and scrying. Sometimes meeting them can happen on a purely physical plane, which is very rare, and should further increase practitioners’ skepticism about themselves and their mental health, but always maintaining the specificity of following traces left by such guides.
The intelligences in our work have a significant influence, whether because of their objective existence or because of the power attributed to them by our own mind; the fact is that they act upon us largely and strongly, even if we accept that they do not exist at all. During his work, the Aspirant will encounter many types of intelligences. Some are basic and elemental in nature. Others are those coming from the shadows, hosts of their own perversions, fears and complexes, some are lovely like the most beautiful garden flowers, while others are bitter and angry. The classification itself is a necessary evil. If nothing else, it indicates our own morality and not the weapons dissected by our mind out of its own fear of accepting its own limitation. Gods, Angels, energies, spirits, demons, Archangels, and Seraphs are just ideas and forces of nature. But until the prefix of “our own” is added to that nature, their division will be a consequence of confusion, and all our experiences will be nothing but the glorification of our own weakness. The classification of beings is as important as it is important to ourselves, so the fact that a famous actor lives in our neighborhood has no effect on us if we are not movie fans.
But there seems to be a certain type of intelligence that guides souls in a special, very authentic, and unique way and deserves to be addressed in detail. One of them is certainly Lam, a being that, by its uniqueness, occupies a completely remarkable place in our history. Crowley included the portrait of Lam in his “Dead Souls” exhibition held in Greenwich Village, New York, in 1919, and it can equally be found in Blue Equinox. In that same year, it was published as a frontispiece labeled The Way, to Crowley’s commentary to Blavatsky’s The Voice of the Silence. Beneath the picture was the following inscription:
“LAM is the Tibetan word for Way or Path, and LAMA is He who Goeth, the specific title of the Gods of Egypt, the Treader of the Path, in Buddhist phraseology. Its numerical value is 71, the number of this book.”
It can be said that it is an intelligence very similar to Aiwass; one would equate these two beings – which indicates the inner teacher by its nature and the type or form of consciousness of man himself, rather than, perhaps, pointing to a specific entity. The portrait of Lam seems to serve in its completely fantastic way as a portal to deeper dimensions of Selfhood. And all it takes to work with him is to stare at him – looking at his eyes – just that, and nothing more. The experiences of working with Lam are as special as working with the Enochian realm; it is a completely specific form and course of a vision, which has an apocalyptic and extremely futuristic design in its nature. Visions are often extremely emotionally charged and shocking with disturbing content. It is difficult to give a concrete opinion about what Lam really is. But nature has arranged that the technique of working with him is diametrically easy in relation to the ambiguity of his nature. Indeed, the whole essence is reflected in staring in his eyes, paying additional attention to the peripheral field of vision. The longer the Aspirant looks within them, the more he is drawn to a very special plane, and the more time he spends staring, the more he realizes that he is looking into himself, projected into the ultimate future. This quiet Self bypasses all our work really skillfully; its traces can be found all over the planet, and again, nowhere specifically. His character is the only method of working with him. All other methods are actually variants of the simple set of instructions used by his character as a means of Dharana. It is tomorrow’s version of our earthly Self. It is a projection of our physical phenomenon that is not satisfied with mundane perception of reincarnation. But always and in every respect, a Neophyte must know that every character is always just one character, every encounter is always just one same encounter – meeting one’s own Self. Every intelligence is actually a reminder of that character residing within ourselves. But there is a certain system of work that we go along, telling us that the sum of all intelligences and entities in the Universe is always and only One.
The work itself is very simple; sitting in his meditating position, the Aspirant is told to “stare into” Lam’s eyes, in exactly the same way as we stated earlier when working with Tattvas, observing those eyes without blinking and concentrating on the peripheral vision, that is, the peripheral darkness that surrounds a circle of vision centered on Lam’s portrait. In the same way as the mechanism of obtaining visions is activated, until black cobweb has touched his narrow eyes, and until those narrow eyes have sucked in the Aspirant’s own mind. All experiences that occur must be well studied by the Neophyte because there, he can recognize completely new sensations and get completely new conclusions about himself and the Universe. The work should be done in the evening, just before bedtime, and should be understood more as a form of evening meditation and Yoga Nidra than anything else. In this work, we are sliding toward a completely different world. Our attention must not in any way set off the alarms of our consciousness, which triggers defense mechanisms according to strange and distant experiences – those in the form of failure and an empty vision. Simply, you have to create a feeling in yourself resembling looking at your pictures from early childhood; on the one hand, you do not remember being photographed, but on the other hand, you know that it is you – a relationship distant and yet close enough to connect yourself personally and biologically.
Nevertheless, there is a very specific type of being that seems to overshadow all others in its peculiarity. Those are Enochian phenomena, and the Neophyte should freely begin to experiment with the Enochian world. The urge toward Enochian realms is a particular drug in our world that is so complex and fantastic that it is best not to talk about this at all, except for a few basic principles concerning the techniques of pronouncing keys, which will certainly be discussed elsewhere. Enochian visions are much more concrete, and it is not so important to activate the mechanism of the peripheral vision and the dark cobweb; the power of the Enochian system is in passive looking and static desire to watch and nothing more. Moreover, the more complicated the method of scrying and obtaining a vision, the weaker the Enochian vision. It requires nothing more than the Aspirant to read the call and understand what is going on in our mind as we are reading words in a non-existent language. It is a kind of a mental trick which is so simple that most people find it difficult to understand.
There is quite a shocking kind of fear and apprehension toward the entities, and the reason is always deep down within our own psychology. But we have such sympathetic suggestions of checking beings by drawing a flaming star, vibrating the divine name of a higher hierarchy, drawing, and waving right in front of it. Those are certainly wonderful insinuations of the Great Work, the way a child imitates a parent, but there, we certainly see nothing more than the mechanism by which our mind moves within a vision. These are principles that oppose what we are pursuing. Here, every possible form of help is welcome. Still, the Aspirant must have a built-in attitude toward his own truth; no matter how different it is, it does not mean that he will not work in the opposite direction if that is exactly what may be beneficial to him. The truth cannot be betrayed; it is there all the time. We, on the other hand, are the ones pretending to be what we are not, leaving the truth to remain what it really is, with or without us. The invocation of one God will never be accompanied by checking and drawing the pentagram; it is such a meaningless claim that it has no real basis in practice. Your being will be taken aback like a girl seeing a prince offering a lost shoe. You are not there to check. In fact, you are not there at all. “You” will only analyze the experience once it has been received and accepted with careful analysis, meditating, and, if it pleases, “checking” it all later. But then, once you see Pan, or Demeter, or anything that has been sent to you by you, you have already capitulated in advance, and the Neophyte is left to observe the Vision, listen to the Voice, and nothing else.
The absence of any meaning in drawing a pentagram, mostly by people who are not aware of what a pentagram means at all, is something like Monty Python’s sketch with the Hungarian dictionary. No one will be able to draw anything before the deity, nor will “you” want to. It has produced more evil intentions and setbacks than all the attempts of black magic combined. Your being will be in a totally different operational mode, and your mental apparatus will be so far away from anything mental and anything yours. You will be plugged into the current of a million volts, and the last thing you will think of is to test the deity. Therefore, treat him as a guest; even the most dreadful and evil ones, aren’t they just projections and images of your mind? Where is their place then, if not under the Sun, my beloved one? Your rituals make them stronger; you fill them with the meaning they ask of you. In a fit of passion and all the delight of lust, you repeat kindergarten songs as if you want to divert your mind from the divine orgasm. We must not bow our heads before the great Goddess but come with an erected Phallus. There is no banishment, nor is there only one way to work with. There is only ascending through accepting, as every act by itself is an act of invoking; every breath, every thought, every need is invoking – from Self toward Self. From one to the same one. From another one toward the same one.
What would you check? Your own courage or your own stupidity? Do you believe in yourself, and even more, can you disbelieve and surrender? Even at the cost of the most horrible death, is not the Knowledge and Conversation the crown of everything? So how will you obtain that Knowledge if the price is as black as a black night? Do you have the courage not to draw a circle? Courage to embrace fear, courage not to be afraid? And in fact, all of these are actually forms of one question: do you have enough love?
There are such wonderfully diverse types of liars that have always adorned our skill in their particularly favorite dual theme: liars in relation to lucid dreaming and those who fantasize about invocations and visions. A silver rope, lower and higher astral planes, pentagram checking, inability to return to the body, everlasting wandering through the limbo are just some of the favorite treats that are usually served with attention and passion. Let the Aspirant think well of everything. The truth is always as easy as it is painful, and often the simplest solution is the one that describes these sad events realistically. Nevertheless, let the Aspirant always find a source for his own learning there – at least about where and in what way he should not act, and, observing them, let him map well the complexes and fantasies that may radiate from his own being.
As for a mirror, it is quite a great help to have visions, and the best is a dark one; you can use the most common black lacquer. You can even look at a piece of black cardboard in a white frame. The choice in this is something like the choice of the front door, where at the same time we certainly have to think about the lock. It is a symbol or a connection to the corridors of the mind where we pour our consciousness. Any symbol can be used as a gateway to the inner worlds. You can look at the mirror with the symbol of the plane you intend to enter, this is quite a sufficient magickal link, but you should certainly not exaggerate in this at all. The Aspirant must not think that making things complicated with a multitude of additional symbols either boosts or empowers the experience itself; on the contrary. Sometimes it is much more effective to draw on the back of a mirror, where we will not see it at all. That subtle part of our mind still knows that it is still there, allowing a minimal magickal link to come to the surface – which always brings the most profit. Working with a mirror as an aid has one nice feature; observing your own eyes in it, along with the appearance of dark peripheral cobweb, your overall appearance starts to change, it melts, pours out, your eyes start to look differently, and your character becomes someone else. All of this is additionally suitable for summoning entities – both of elemental and of some different nature, and on the one hand, it may be easier than working with Tattvas. On the other hand, it is more stressful and causes excitement, which, again, can be deadly for the finale. Above all, this is a great choice when working with your own shadow, which can be of special importance for a Neophyte.
One Aspirant might even ask if it is possible to invoke the Holy Guardian Angel by looking in the mirror? But our answer would be extremely simple: isn’t every event in which that same Aspirant participates actually looking into that mirror in which the figure of an Angel would appear? Isn’t every act a reminder of that character which is always in our imagination? Isn’t each character actually one character, aren’t billions of star reflections actually just one reflection of one star in a mirror?
The aid that drives change is completely irrelevant. In fact, you will never even see anything that is “out” of you. All you need to do is to make a simulation of your field of vision with your eyelids closed, and at the same time change your awareness, and that is all. Fortunately, consciousness automatically changes the moment your vision begins to darken, and a dark cobweb becomes apparent, so everything is much simpler once you give in and try.
An excellent additional exercise for getting visions is looking at clouds. But not the way it might first occur to you, which is to look at certain shapes in clouds. In this exercise, it is the opposite – you have to see in advance what you thought of first. This difference is so enormous and develops an entirely different mind mechanism, which is so precious for having visions. An identical thing can be achieved by looking at sand or any other group of small particles, where one tries to see an imagined object in advance.
Let us advance further; Neophyte’s work with the Tarot is of exceptional value. It has a double meaning, and one Neophyte must establish both aspects in his work as deeply as possible. The first is the use of Tarot to travel in a vision; the second is its use for divination. Tarot is a remarkable portal for passing through a vision; the Aspirant must look on it as an unfinished image of a great artist. What does a picture beyond the frame look like? Let the Neophyte expand that image; let him imagine that the Tarot card is just a small window behind which there is a much wider and larger world hiding. Let him dive into those depths and explore them; let him check what is there in the part of the map that is not visible? What does the rest of the drawing look like in all dimensions, up and down, and then from the side? The Aspirant can use the names already given quite clearly in “Liber 777”, although he can also construct and use others if he considers that they embody the nature of the image more closely. Sphere guides can be characters that are drawn, but they can also be some completely different elements that the Aspirant did not pay attention to. Maybe the Fool is a lower guide than Kinofekalus or even Monkey? Let him leave it to the vision to grant him a guide, not wanting any of the above – nor anything special, leaving it up to nature to decide what is best for him.
The story about Tarot is the story of an exhibition; sometimes, it is so absurd to see the whole exhibition, sometimes we go for days in a row without meeting a painter who may be timidly squatting in a corner waiting for someone to approach him. It is very likely that we could learn more about the pictures from that conversation than from all the pictures combined. Sometimes the whole exhibition is just a reflection of one single picture, or sometimes the whole exhibition is everything but a whole, but we remain under the impression of one picture, and because of it, we neglect all the others. Or even if we have looked at everything, after returning home, we have the impression that we haven’t actually seen anything. It is all such a futile job as such an author does not exist in the usual sense of the word. It is futile to meet him, partly because we are him, all this time. The author of Tarot is not the one who drew it but the one who holds it. This is an elementary paradox of this device, and all that can be said about it is – it works by the law we think it does. Thus, one opening can be completely useless in the hand of another Aspirant, and as long as they have a sense of what works in their case, it will work. Tarot, like Ji Jing, is a machinery of synchronicity, it is the currency of Samsara, and as long as that wheel rotates, it bears fruit. But it still requires some attention to detail.
As far as divination is concerned, people simply want to complicate things to such extremes that the question becomes meaningless. But most of us are surprised when someone asks us, “what do you need,” so simple, with a very short question that tears up our minds to such an extent that we really do not know what we want at that moment. It is the same with Tarot, one question – one random card. That is all about it. Still, there is another way that uses multiple cards for one question; it does not matter how those cards are stacked or drawn if the Neophyte really understands the mechanism by which synchronicity works here. And that has been, perhaps, the most important lesson so far. When you open more cards, synchronicity simply decreases. What is increasing instead is what is perhaps more valuable in divination, and that is the unconscious spirit that has already got the answers to all the questions. The more cards have been used, the more successful is the way we form the story that connects those cards; it is completely irrelevant what those cards have brought. What matters is what they have caused in us, and since there are several of them, in its own way and beyond the reach of the conscious censor of reality, our intuition will connect the cards in causality and draw the logic which is actually what is required. In this way, you tell a story that you already know. The cards only serve to bring what you think is attached to them, like when we look at characters in the clouds; the ability where you can actually see whatever you want comes quite naturally which is the whole point of divination using multiple cards. It is completely irrelevant why you connect them the way you connect them. As long as you make that connection, you are at the same moment only copying destiny the way it has already been realized. It is the most sublime form of divination – which is not really a prediction but a recollection of the future that has actually already happened, instead of a future that is yet to come. So the real divination is to bring consciousness into a mode of remembering, not peeking into something outside of itself. It is a corridor of consciousness, by no means a corridor of time. If the Neophyte realizes this, he is indeed free to access more complicated openings. However, all the while understanding the multitude of cards only as a provocation to ignite his spirit to construct a story that he cannot see with his rational killer of abstraction. In contrast, the cards serve here as a perfect system to extinguish that Ego sensor. Tarot is a machine more than anything, but we are interested in who the engineer is. Talk to him, and it will be more valuable to you than knowing the nuts and bolts of the machine that goes by itself, after all. One card, one question. Multiple cards, on the other hand, bring consciousness to a much deeper plane, like when you answer a riddle. In one, you get an answer you do not know how to interpret; in the other, you are looking for justification and checking the answer you actually already know. It is very important to understand the difference between the two, even though both are aimed at the same thing – and that is getting a coordinated answer. A magician is always a witness to such a huge number of wrong questions – not wrong answers; the human being is simply made of special materials that so perfectly refuse to pose the right question, and it will do anything just not to ask what it has to. It is a greater skill to ask the right question than the skill of getting all the visions and clairvoyances together.
Divination is undoubtedly the easiest of all our skills; the reasons for so many mistakes and apparent failures lie within our misunderstanding. Therefore, the condition for the development of desired talent does not lie in the increase of successful coincidences but in the development of a specific type of consciousness that perceives the presence of the spirit in seemingly dead things. The method by which our enthusiasm would play is completely irrelevant; if we develop the right attitude toward methods, it will be such grand attainment that we would start to see a perfect result without investing any efforts. Talking about methods is surprisingly boring for our being; what we are talking about here is discovering our individual potential so that we can make perfect weapons ourselves. We think that the spirit is nothing but the manifestation of the wholeness and totality of all possibilities. Coming to that spirit is a projection of the spread of the Aspirant’s consciousness on higher planes. The ultimate success lies in the observation of patterns and mechanisms of repetition and similarity in the darkness of ignorance and illogicality. What we have referred here all the time is the thought about the magical link.
Tarot, Geomancy, and the Book of Changes are nothing but rotten projections of a magician. And we will be so rude to consider them all black magic. At the same time, they really all work perfectly, but for anyone who does not have an awakened Pure Will, these are types of the worst poison. If they are understood as predictors of events, it is spoiled food that will be secreted by the magician’s being with suffering until the moment it reaches the ultimate experience itself. All together, they are nothing but proof of failure in the Great Work. We do not want the Aspirant to question or ask for anything; a magician demands unconditionality; possibilities do not exist. The Will has no aspects of its nature but actions. Do not ask, but seek an answer; here lies the essence of divination, not to ask but to demand. You are allowed to ask for only one thing, and then divination cannot help you in any way, because what you are looking for is the Knowledge and Conversation, and all the scrying mirrors of the Universe are small surfaces to display this phenomenon.
Practice recognizing the appearances of the spirit. Also, practice demanding that your spirit responds to you by its appearance. Learn to keep an open mind to thousands of appearances it constantly takes. You do not have to be perfectly sure of left or right, black or red when the time comes to find out where the spirit is leading you. Think about the fact that this spirit is both black and red, as much as you are. Even your effort not to make a mistake or even the mistake in your choice is one and the same spirit. You will see that it is the right name for intuition; yea, that is the right name for intuition – to interpret each event as a specific form of God’s conversation with your own Soul.
Finally, we would point to a few purely practical things; in fact, what we are referring to is moving the Aspirant toward creativity. These are indications of what he needs to do for himself, in his own way, in an interesting way, to develop them and play in a way that suits and pleases his good soul. Let him explore and improvise the technique of performance more than anything else, without even having to find anything definite which he would be satisfied with. Let his inventiveness be short-lived, like life, but let him find himself in that pleasure completely. Let him play and let him explore and feel his own pulse in all that work, and eventually, he will find the lifeblood of his own Angel. In the end, there is nothing more valuable to a being than the transmission of other people’s experiences, from which conclusions can be drawn bestowing the being with enthusiasm to embark on a similar quest itself.
APPENDIX – EXAMPLES OF VISIONS
Monday, June 30th 2003
14:01 – 14:46
Trigram Zhen, Water aspect
I am vibrating names while entering. I emerge in a transparent soap bubble. The whole area around me is typically astral, pink and orange – colors of the setting Sun. I see bubbles all around me and one magician in each bubble, and I am just like that – one of them. We are flying up toward the Sun; as we have reached a certain height, our bubble bursts, we fall down into the sea. Just above the surface, we fall into new bubbles appearing below, and we all move up again, facing the Sun. This goes on everlastingly. I understand the aspiration of Aspirants to reach the Sun, but there is a limit that I cannot cross by any method. Therefore, I invoke a guide of this sphere named RAAGIOSEL; a bird appears on the open sea, and now I see a huge owl coming to me. It grabs me with its claws from above, puncturing the bubble. In a strange whistling voice, it tells me its name, which sounds like EDA. It carries me spirally upward, making larger and larger ascending paths. Now it tells me that it was that bubble which prevented me from reaching the Sun, even though it allowed me to fly. It also tells me that I could fly without that soap bubble. In a spiral motion counterclockwise, it lifts me higher and higher. The solar disk is getting bigger, and I finally immerse myself in the Sun, in pure LVX. I thank EDA and end the vision.
Monday, June 30th 2003
15:33 – 16:17
Trigram Zhen, Earth aspect
I am vibrating names and passing through. I materialize on a single leaf of a tree. I am so tiny; in front of me, there is a drop of some liquid, actually dew, sliding down that leaf. The leaf is large and resembles an oak leaf; it is on a tree branch in an oak forest. I am quite small, a little bigger than that drop of dew. It is now sliding and falling from the leaf, and I am sliding and falling following that drop down into the endless sea of grass. Tall, thick grass is all around me in the vast distance. It is swaying in the wind like a wave in the sea. The top of each grass is golden, and those tops collect the light of the Sun. I call for a guide; a big snail turns up. I ask it for its name; it introduces itself as PIPAK. The snail is my height, and I am the size of a dwarf. I ask it to explain the nature of this sphere. I am riding it, holding on to its horns, and we are traveling quite slowly through that sea of grass. I have the impression that we will not get anywhere this way. I ask it where we are going, it replies that we are not going anywhere – it is explaining to me the nature of this sphere, just as I asked it. The night is getting closer, stars begin to shine, and we are still traveling. I have an impression that we have not moved from the beginning. That endless sea of grass makes it impossible to get anywhere because there is nothing there except for that. It is very pleasant here, though. Along the way, we meet various inhabitants of this sphere. I am looking at the sky; I see the stars. Grass that used to be golden at their tops were now curled up, waiting for the Sun to rise. I am looking into the blackness of the night sky. Everything disappears, and I return.
Friday, July 11th 2003
14:23 – 14:56
Passing through the QIAN trigram. IAO formula.
I
Iacchus, the mighty Father. The first, lowest line of the trigram is enlarged and transformed into one step on which is written: “the Man of Earth.” I turn up in the jungle, walking among trees. I hear the cries of wild animals around me. I come to a huge tree with a large carved heart with a hexagram of the Beast drawn inside that heart. There is a hole in its center, and I put my thumb in it; everything disappears, and I get a vision of a butterfly spreading pollen from flower to flower. Pollen falls from its wings, all around. I see his hard work in the field. I hear a voice telling me, “Such is the Work of the Man of Earth.” I thank him and end the vision.
A
Asi, the mighty Mother. I am looking at the trigram, and this time the center line comes to surface, also in the shape of a step. I climb up and see that “the Lover” is written on it. I appear on the shore of the ocean; the Sun is just setting. The sky is of beautiful pink-red color with very few clouds. As the Sun is setting, so is my Angel coming out of water in a white silk robe. Wet silk falls over her hips and chest, she looks very enchanting, yet, I felt no passion. She comes and sits next to me, and we then lie stretched out on the sand. Now I lie over her and see a picture of an eleven-pointed star. She is actually a pentagram, and I am a phallic hexagram. However, the Aspirant feels himself like a woman next to the Angel. She is male, while I am female, although the form is reversed in my reality. The nature of the relationship with the Angel is sisterhood. A voice from heaven tells me: “This is how the Lover works.” I thank Her and end a vision.
O
Orus, the holy child. The third line stands out as a step too. It says, “the Hermit.” I am on that beach now, but the beach is deserted. I am looking at it all from a different angle, from above, and I see that neither my Angel nor I am on that beach now. One bird lands on the sea surface and reaches the shore, and I now see a swan approaching the same place where my Angel and my Self lay. That swan takes a seat there and starts sleeping. The Sun has already set, and it is already midnight. I am falling asleep, waking up with the sunrise. I am looking at the shore and see that the swan has gone. I finish this work.
“Fifth Ray”
Friday, January 23rd 2004
05:23 – 06:02
I am stepping through a portal, and I appear in a small bay, on the seashore. There are fjords around me, it is gloomy and overcast. I am walking wearing autumn clothes. I sat on the sandy beach and started throwing pebbles into the water, making concentric circular waves. I am watching them, and that brings up change. The waves reach the shore causing the soil to tremble, letting big black leeches emerge from the sand. It excites me in a strange way. I lie on my back on the sand while leeches slowly start sucking my blood. I feel pain, then relief. I feel the life energy coming out of my body. I am now in the position of the “Hanged Man.” As the last drop of blood has left my body, so are leeches moving away and returning to sand. All that has left is my consciousness.
An airy figure of Lam appears on the surface above the sea, watching me. In the center of the circular waves I made, there is now Lam’s head. I get cramps, and I twitch. Lam sucks me into his skull. In the beginning, I cannot see anything, it is completely dark, but as time goes by, I realize that I am on one bed, connected to strange devices. A voice tells me not to worry because something miraculous is going to happen. I feel the electricity in my body. At one point, I experience a love affair with a female Lam-like creature; I am experiencing an abstract sexual relationship with that being, a supreme love pleasure. At the moment of orgasm, I suddenly return to my body, and now I am on the beach again. I get up revived, and reborn. It is night; there is no one. I look at the sea – it is now a sea of sperm. I expand my consciousness, I grow, and I realize that I am actually in my brain. Then, I become my body as a whole.
“Twelfth Ray”
Monday, January 26th 2004
22,43 – 23,51h
I waited for the darkness to turn into a three-dimensional sphere, observing it with a peripheral view, so I can always easily step into the astral sphere in front of me; on the other side, I was already greatly changed. I am walking in darkness, and nothing is happening except for darkness. Behind me are various shells and planets of the world. In front, however, there was nothing for a long time. I became aware that I was in a very specific plane, so I gave up vibrating and calling out a guide. What could even lead me here when there is nothing? I arrived in the land which is void of desire, but far from not having desire in my own soul. Suddenly, all this turned out to be deception, and I found myself walking down the path that led to a black cube in the middle of a sandy desert. Darkness remained far, far behind desires. That plane had appeared to me many times before, maybe it had been the same one from the beginning, but now, accustomed to desire, I summoned the Vision and the Voice. Soon, I arrived to the very entrance to the cube, it was a temple without windows or carvings. A pure monolithic cube with an incised octagon above the blue door. Inside, the plane was calling to me in its change, I found a huge lake with silver fog evaporating. An equally ugly and enchanting girl was waiting on the shore in a wooden boat. As I did not think of her as a guide, my time became insignificant as we crossed the lake. We were approaching a small island on which a pyramid had been built. Only then did I notice that the lake was made of blood. As we stepped onto the ground of the island, I headed straight for the little pyramid. Inside, I found again the change of the plane expressed in a huge hall, a really huge, unspeakably huge hall inside that small pyramid; the hall was so big that I could not see the ceiling or its perimeter. That is where I stepped into a great change.
In the center, there was an altar in a form of perfect double cube, with four marble paths leading to it, each in elemental colors. I came to the blue marble path. On the altar lay a wooden oval tray, just that and nothing more. At that time, the door in the distance opened, and high kings-priests began to approach the altar. I moved a little to the side because I got the feeling that I needed to observe from afar. The kings-priests were giants, over 4 meters tall. I did not see their faces, but they were of elementary attributions. I knew that these were 4 holy Enochian kings, so I greeted them all with the name EHNB. These were specific beings like Adonai Malakh, and they happened to be waiting for something. And now, a beautiful young girl dressed in blue came over and brought a large bowl that matched the tray on the altar. Although she had wings and brought about the change that only Angel brings, she did not fly or say anything. The way she came on her feet, the same way she went into the stillness of the darkness of this sanctuary. The change took me all over, now everything was gone, and we all suddenly found ourselves in the center of the room where the magnificent celebration took place. Adonai Malakhs were sitting at the table, and next to them, there were similar creatures with visors and cloths over their heads.
Then the bowl on the tray opened, and I saw Baphomet’s head resting in his blood, and the change began to run wild through the Vision. Again, the change took more effect, and a beautiful green ray descended on that head from the heavens, and from the top, I watched it and admired the god IAIDA. And that light bathed the head of Baphomet, and before I worshiped IADANAMAD three times, the head of John the Baptist was in a bowl in the center of all this Vision. It was wonderful, and horrible in the same time. And now the elemental kings took off their war helmets and visors, as all others did. And I watched, I watched for a long time all of them, standing there headless. They all sat around the table, around John’s Head, being headless themselves. It was marvelous, and it has remained so. Nevertheless, on that tray on which St. John’s head rested, I noticed its outlines, and that was the head of Lam. My Angel told me that was the Order of the Akephalos – Beheaded, and I realized that those were real and true followers of St. John.
This was the Order of John, and both the head of Baphomet and the head of John, and all the other heads that were-not-there, and me as well – was One Order. And now that Oneness disappeared, and complete darkness arose like at the beginning. I thought of going back the same way, but there was still desire in me. So I did not return. And in that darkness, seven candles got lit up. And each of the candle flames became one church of Asia, not ordinary but completely different. In the end, I do not even know why I knew them by that name. And those seven Churches burned with a very quiet and small flame, but the change of this plane shifted again, and the flames began to spread. And now, in front of me, there are Templar brethren holding torches like those flames. In time, more of them began to come, and soon they surrounded me in the form of a Greek cross. And upon the call of IAIDA, the cross converted into a Swastika. Once and again. The change began to manifest itself in the form of a vortex taking the All-of-Us overwhelmingly.
And darkness came again, but this time I was inhabited in the darkness of the night sky, and of those seven Churches that were flames, only seven stars remained in the northern night sky. I was glad for that. And now, from the direction of the constellation which was made up of those seven stars, a red-hot and terrible head was sent toward the Earth, which soon reached us, and fell collapsing like a meteor shattering everything under. There, below me, on the Earth, a great change was developing, as great as the one that used to shatter my being at the time. From that blow, oceans turned to mud, and one Dragon and his slime mixed with that mud and other people were created. They were changed and different. A voice from the Vision told me that they were Cain’s children. In time, they went underground, their blood becoming the sap of the trees. They were warmed by the Black Sun inside. And they were quiet.
The three archangels; Gabriel, Raphael, and Auriel brought the essence of Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt, and from that, they made a shining crown that they put on the head of a young woman. Seven Angels approached her, and each of them cut off one lock of her hair. And those locks were letters. Gabriel, Rafael, and Auriel were GRA; the others added letters up to SANGRAA. Therefore, it was not What or Where the Grail was, but Who. And now, it-does-not-matter.
And now the Cross is a Swastika, and the Rose was a Lily. And the Swastika used its hooks to hit Kteis of the young woman causing waterfalls of secretions that smelled of Lilies.
And now the Dragon devours All and all in Everything, and everything in this Vision. Its scales reflect the light from the heavens, making the heads of saints shine, with the letter “I” engraved – like John. And now auras have become mirrors with the head of Lam clearly visible in them, like the true head of each of Johns. Behind all this is a vision of the Dragon; the change is at its beginning standing there.
And it was so for a long time. At the end of this Vision, in the celestial space, Lam showed me SanGraa, with a very small being sitting in his left hand, sublime and simple. He turned the Cup and placed it over that little being. And not only did the Elixir fall on him, but he did not hear or see anything of the destiny that was initiated by this Vision, because it was guarded by the walls of SanGraa. He disappeared in silence. Slowly, everything disappeared.
Frater 273
Frater 273 | Reflections on Thelema 
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Muchas gracias. ?Como puedo iniciar sesion?
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