Copyright (C) 1998 by William Mistele. All rights reserved.
Second Chapter Psychic
In this chapter, we work at attaining astral equilibrium with the four
elements by (1) Fight or control, (2) auto-suggestion and/or (3)
transmutation or transforming it into its opposite quality.
To review, in the psychic exercise for the first chapter, we began
the practice of introspection. We recorded our positive and negative
qualities of character using the four elements as a guide. We then
rated the relative strength of the different qualities within us dividing
them into three groups. This gave us a kind of mirror of the soul, a
reference point for quickly viewing our state of astral equilibrium.
The task in chapter two is to establish a balance between the four
elements. For Bardon, "The scholar ought, therefore, to endeavor
quickly and surely to get rid of those passions which most hinder
him from being successful in the magic art." And, "The refinement
of character should be aspired after, during the entire course, but, as
early as on this level, faults rapidly gaining ground and bad qualities
handicapping development in a higher order, ought to be
eradicated."
Since in the next chapter, chapter 3, we begin accumulating the
four elements in the astral body, Bardon insists "Before starting on
the training for this step (Chapter 3), the astral equipoise of the
elements in the soul has to be established by introspection and self-
control unless you wish to do mischief to yourself." Bardon asserts
that "Without a balance of the elements in the astral body or in the
soul, there is no possible progress or rise."
At the beginning of Chapter 2, Bardon discusses autosuggestion.
If you are working on a personal fault such as a lack of enthusiasm
or conviction, the idea is to phrase your self-suggestion in the
present tense or imperative: "I am full of enthusiasm," or, "I have
strong conviction." You then practice this autosuggestion by
repeating the phrase a number of times, especially as you fall asleep
at night or wake up in the morning. Bardon says, "The main point
is that you do imagine your wish as being realized already and
having actual existence."
It would seem that from Bardon's perspective, the subconscious--
the source of faults, weaknesses, and passions--views the conscious
mind as being kind of stupid. People say what they want, are
planning, or wishing for, but they do not really believe it. The
conscious self acts to defeat itself by lacking conviction when it
speaks. To not be completely certain about succeeding when you
make a wish is to plan for your own failure. And what is far worse
from the subconscious point of view is that the conscious mind fails
all reasonable tests when it comes to imagining in a concrete and
graphic way what it wishes to be or to accomplish.
Since part of the job of the subconscious is to contain and store
energy, it is pretty much a waste of its time and resources to
cooperate with the conscious mind. The conscious mind acts
arbitrarily, unreasonably, impulsively, and without any regard for
the real issues of life. It is as if the conscious self intentionally
refuses to speak the language of the subconscious or show any
respect when it makes its requests.
The remedy for this situation is to demonstrate real conviction,
feeling, and imagination when seeking to bring about a change in
yourself. The conviction is in part demonstrated by imagining that
what you want is real right now in this moment. So again, as
Bardon points out, you make your wish in the present tense without
any hesitation or doubt: For example, you say "I am full of
enthusiasm" if your problem is apathy or being phlegmatic.
To this you add feeling. You have to search your own memory
and experiences with others until you conjure up a completely
convincing set of examples about what it is to be enthusiastic. Then
you put yourself within those images or reflect on them until you
can accurately reproduce in yourself the feeling of enthusiasm. At
this point, your subconscious will be able to say, "Ah, now you are
speaking my language. Now I know what you mean when you say,
`I am full of enthusiasm.'"
And finally, you have to explore with your imagination what it
means for your wish to be completely real right now, as something
already accomplished. Bardon mentions the great advantage of
using autosuggestion when you are falling asleep or waking up from
sleep. Then your brain waves shift from beta through theta to
alpha. When you wake up from sleep, the brain waves will remain
in alpha for around five minutes. If you practice autosuggestion
during this time, you have a stronger access to and communication
with your subconscious.
This is where daydreaming or imaginative explorations take on
the power of magick. Again, what would that be like if what you
wish for has already become real? Your subconscious would sure
like to know the answer to that question. This is because the
subconscious has to take all the energy it has allotted to one set of
behaviors, beliefs, and emotions and rechannel that energy into a
new set of behaviors, beliefs, and emotions.
If you just sit there saying what you want to be and feeling it as
real, you are still making a half-hearted effort from the subconscious
point of view. You have not really done your homework when it
comes to communicating what you want to your subconscious.
Your subconscious wants you to enter a dream of the future and
walk around inside of it and experience it as if it is totally real right
now. Get involved with details. Use all your five senses. Make the
experience so real and graphic that it feels as if you are living it right
now. The imagination has to convince itself that what it envisions,
at least during the practice, is absolutely real in the here and now.
This is not asking too much. You see, the subconscious produces
dreams every single night which seem completely real to the
dreaming mind. If you want to succeed with the subconscious, you
have to use its own tools and language. You have to become clever
and subtle enough to convince your subconscious that you are able
to take over some of its functions.
If the dream of what you wish to be is a 100% real to you within
your astral body, then you already radiate the energy of what it is
like to be what you want. Your actions and thoughts then change in
order to fall into alignment with this new self-image, energy, feeling,
and thought. This is my summary or version of Bardon's
perspective on autosuggestion.
If you want a quick and easy method which many individuals find
extremely useful, you might try Jose Silva's exercise in mind control.
This involves visualizing three pictures one after the other. First,
you visualize your problem on a white screen in front of you.
Imagine all aspects of the situation. This is the way things are right
now.
Next, you move this screen off to the left side. Then on another
white screen you visualize the solution to the problem, that is,
exactly how you would like things to be. This is a point in the
future where the problem is solved. You look at it right now in
front of you. Again, make it real and convincing. Now move this
screen also off to the left side.
Finally, you visualize yourself on another screen in front of you.
This is a further point in the future where the problem no longer
even comes up. You are altogether beyond it and involved in other
things.
As an exercise in Silva Mind Control, this is an exercise you can
do in several minutes. It is often very helpful for individuals who
can not even imagine what a resolution of their problem would be
like. I like to take exercises like this and expand on them. I practice
them not for a few minutes but more like for a half hour or more. I
make them into a deep contemplative exercise.
In this case, I continually test myself to see if I feel and can
imagine myself being 100% within the picture I am visualizing.
Since some of the qualities we seek to embody within ourselves are
not only completely new to our experience but also involve
remarkable psychological and spiritual virtues, the visualization is
also a high art of self-transformation. It is the thought, the feeling,
the image, and the energy--all of these at once which we are
generating or creating within ourselves during the practice.
Note also that ritual can be used to reinforce autosuggestion. It is
common in new age seminars to write down the problem you have
and then surrender or give that problem to the fire element. You
place the paper on which you have written your problem into the
fire in the solemn presence of others. If done in the right group and
in the right mood, this can be helpful. The action lays hold of your
subconscious on a deep level.
Bardon mentions working simple elemental magick like the above
later on in his first book. Bardon also mentions how one time he
was concentrating his wish so intensely on the surface of a mirror
that the mirror actually shattered. Right before I became acquainted
with Bardon's book, I had been visualizing myself in some of the
major arcana of the Tarot cards every day for about four months.
One of the cards was The Magician. Sometimes you have to work
at your wish with a lot of concentration and persistence.
An Astral Equilibrium Meditation
When I use my psychic intuition and focus in on what Bardon wants
in regard to astral equilibrium, it seems to me that he wants the
student to experience first hand the state of astral equipoise. You
should be able to feel what it is like when the four elements are in
harmony and balanced in your astral body. Though this is obviously
jumping ahead, I would like to explain a little more about this.
You might try this as an exercise. Imagine dark violet light
shining in and around your body. This light represents akasha. The
light shines outward from you penetrating through space and time.
And you are this light. You are after a physical sensation of
penetrating through space and time with your consciousness.
Nothing limits what you can feel, observe, think, and experience.
Now add to this identification with akasha the qualities of the
four elements as they act within the personality. You see and feel
yourself embodying the powers of water--you are loving, sensitive
to others, empathic, vivacious, nurturing, and tender. Add to this
the powers of air--you are bright, alert, detached, objective,
articulate, understanding, and wise.
Now add the powers of earth--you are solid, stable, rugged,
persevering, hard-working, shrewd, practical, down-to-earth, and
attentive to details. And also add the powers of fire--you are in
charge, determined, committed, commanding, full of conviction and
certainty about your purposes, dynamic, and courageous.
Take some time and blend the four elemental sets of qualities into
the akasha which radiates from your body. Move between the four
elements until you gain the sense that each is fully present within
you. Feel the confidence and reassurance which comes from having
this harmony. And notice how each element is complimented,
supported, and strengthened by being aligned with the other three
elements.
Having the balance of the four elements within the astral body is a
highly creative state. It grants an individual great adaptability and
flexibility. Magicians often use magick circles during their
evocational practices. The four directions often symbolize the four
elements. But establishing magical equilibrium within yourself is a
way of internalizing the magick circle. It offers a great deal of
protection by insuring that your aura is not vulnerable to being
influenced or infiltrated by outside energies.
See also my essay on Focusing under Transpersonal Psychology on
my web site. I often will focus on a personal problem or difficulty
following Eugene Gendlin's six steps. But I extend Gendlin's
method by taking more time and employing more concentration just
as do with Jose Silva's exercise. I change the exercise into a magical
form of contemplation which works more directly with energy than
what these men usually imagine. Note that while Silva's
visualizations involve the sense of sight, Gendlin's focusing is for
those who work more with the tactile or kinesthetic sense.
I also like to use Ira Progoff's journalizing method and method of
dialoguing. Progoff is more verbal or auditory oriented though he
has you writing things down. Again, there are a vast number of
ways to interact with the subconscious. You can intervene and
change your behavior directly as is done in some methods of
behavioral psychology. Or you can use a more cognitive approach
monitoring and reframing your thoughts.
You can engage in introspection and contemplation by processing
your feelings. You can turn personal problems into a spiritual quest
or reframe them as a journey through a spiritual landscape of the
soul. This is a kind of pathworking, symbolic exploration, tantra, or
free association in a state of trance. You can do all of these one
after the other or all at once. Self-transformation is a vast area of
study and many methods and resources are available and should be
available to those who pass this way.
Some Personal Comments
Years ago, I pursued this exercise on magical equilibrium with great
effort. I would emphasize the importance of attaining magical
equilibrium along with Bardon. Before an individual enters a
spiritual universe through opening his psychic senses and spiritual
intuition, he needs to have mastered the habit of being fully attentive
to accomplishing every responsibility in his daily life. If you can do
this, your personality is then defined by clear boundaries. Mystical
feelings and cosmic awareness do not blur or confuse your
responses. There is no hazy ambiguity or emotional undercurrent
present when you interact with others.
In astral equilibrium, we are pursuing character qualities
associated with how we act in our everyday lives. We are making
the ordinary into a spiritual training ground. In doing this, we are
reinforcing our will so it becomes as strong as steel. This is
absolutely necessary since a magician can not afford to be weak or
carry excess emotional baggage from the past.
And this brings us to great paradox in this exercise. If you find a
loose thread in a shirt, you can snap it off. But if you pull on that
thread even gently, sometimes you will rend the fabric. You
discover the material is flawed almost to the point of being
worthless.
If you find a leak in the hull of a wooden boat, you can patch it.
But if you push a needle into the wood, you may find the outer
varnished surface has dry rot hidden beneath it. The needle slips
right through the wood as if it is cheese or plaster board. In this
case, a much larger area needs to be replaced.
The same is sometimes true about our exercise. You can say to
yourself, "I am going to work on my personal faults and
weaknesses," and then you proceed to do so. This can be like
spring cleaning of a house. You perform annual maintenance. You
wash the windows and stream clean the carpets and throw out the
junk you have been accumulating over the past year.
But your attitude of self-questioning and probing may be the
same as holding in your hands a key to a door into your psyche
which you would never otherwise unlock. One time my father was
checking the slanting wall of the attic in our house. He found a
lever hidden out of sight. He pulled on it and a hidden door clicked
open. The door lead into a secret room which was used for
stockpiling liquor smuggled into the United States from Canada
during Prohibition. The door was disguised to look exactly like the
wood supporting the shingles of the roof.
The psyche is similar. If you find the latch and then give
something ordinary a gentle push, you may find yourself gazing into
an entire dungeon of memories, pain, and unresolved conflicts.
These may be in part your own and they may also be an
accumulation of karmic debt handed down from previous
generations. These may also seem like unexplored, forbidden, and
taboo areas of the collective unconscious carefully cordoned off and
sealed away from the emotions and instincts acceptable to our
society. Our cultures often are built on great strengths but they all
conceal areas of great darkness in their foundations.
To put it simply, if you wish to be, for example, more assertive,
you may run into an inner conflict. Part of you may wish to not be
assertive until you have overcome the abuses of power exercised for
generations in your family. On the other hand, if you wish to be
more sensitive to others' feelings, as you develop your empathy you
may feel you are adrift on an ocean of pain. These are not your
personal feelings. Instead, your empathy comes wrapped up in a
profound insight into the quiet desperation and sorrow hidden in
others' lives. For some individuals, such insight is overwhelming and
too much to handle.
Our simple exercise, then, is like an individual going into see a
therapist. The therapist asks, "What do you want me to do for
you?" The individual replies, "I want to be more in charge of my
life. I want to use my time better so I can get more done." The
therapist then asks, "Tell me about what you feel is holding you
back from doing this?" And shortly thereafter the client recalls after
years of repression the memory of how he or she was raped as a
child. This actually happened in a class I was teaching. A woman
suddenly recalled and then related to the group--a bunch of navy
sailors who had little ability to understand--this incredibly intense
personal trauma. Suddenly the simple task of learning time
management, of setting priorities and goals, evokes a pain which
seems at first impossible to bear.
Perhaps an individual inherits a susceptibility for alcoholism, drug
abuse, insanity, or violence from his family or past. There can be
any number of nightmares ready and waiting to awaken if you
engage in self-exploration. These can be are so deeply rooted in
yourself you do not know how or where to begin working on them.
Consequently, in some encounter and therapy groups, the
members are kept focused on the present and on the specific
behaviors and feelings they can actually change. The deeper
feelings and motivations which are more diffuse and less susceptible
to conscious control are carefully screened out and pushed off to the
side. There are often immediate advantages to this approach. Even
small success in changing your behavior, self-talk, and feelings build
self-confidence and strengthens the individual's will.
The downside of this approach is that the individual's psyche then
becomes like a house with some locked rooms containing the
unknown. The problem is that an individual who strengthens his will
and identity without processing his deeper emotions and fully
exploring the depths of himself lacks well-being and inner peace.
He is not fully at home in the world of his psyche. On some level,
he knows there are inner barriers--questions he must not ask,
feelings he must never awaken, and dreams he must never dream.
This may seem like a subtle point but if you are going to learn to
exert your full will or open your five senses to perceiving on the
inner planes, you have to be free of fear. You can not bring your
microcosm into harmony with the macrocosm when there are parts
of your psyche and history which you can not accept and transform.
These barriers to inner life can be observed in others even in
ordinary conversations and personal interactions. When you talk to
someone, you may find there are parts of them which are not
transparent. There are things about them they do not want to talk
about not because they are private or personal but because the pain
is unresolved. The topic evokes anxiety and denial.
When I review all of Bardon's exercises in his three books on
magick, the most difficult exercise for me is establishing magical
equilibrium. It is a life long work and there is no end to it. If you
study Aikido for forty years with real passion and zeal, you become
a sixth don master. If you practice Tai Chi Chuan for forty years
with a great master so that you mind becomes one with you inner
chi, ten or even twenty men can not push you over when you stand
your ground.
If you had the time and money, you could study with the great
psychologists of the world earning three Ph.d.'s. You would engage
in intense personal work exploring your personal shadow and
subconscious. Then, as a therapist and facilitator, you would be
able to lead others through the intricate pathways and corridors of
their souls through the darkness and pain and back again into
healing and light. But the Aikido and Tai Chi master and even the
psychologist do not need to attain to astral equilibrium. It is
definitely not a requirement of their professions. The idea never
enters their imagination.
In my experience, there were two main problems I ran into in
first working with establishing astral equilibrium. To begin with,
Bardon's first book, Initiation into Hermetics, is for me an
incredibly tedious and boring set of exercises. As Bardon points
out, these exercises take a nearly superhuman patience and tough
endurance to master. Progress, though sometimes rapid, is more
often accomplished in millimeters. The time frame is not weeks or
months but often years before basic exercises are mastered.
This level of difficulty, however, has some great advantages. For
example, such taxing work leaves no room for inflation of ego or for
fanatical devotion. Both of these attitudes demand quick results and
measure progress by comparing oneself to other human beings. The
notion that "I am practicing the highest and greatest magical system
on earth" eventually must come to grips with the realization that
actually I am practicing the most challenging and demanding
magical system on earth.
The fanatical, pious, holier than thou mind set (so commonly
found in monasteries, religious organizations, and cults) which says
"I am special and superior to others" runs into the realization that
Bardon's system demands absolute self-awareness and total self-
mastery. You can not afford to carry self-delusions with you when
you are constantly exploring unknown worlds both of the
imagination and on the inner planes. There is simply no room for
arrogance or self-righteousness.
Akasha, for example, loves to play with young magicians. With
more stealth than any archdemon and like a lover with wild passion,
it leads new magicians through a maze of self-knowledge to a
central encounter with that darkness within themselves which
contains their greatest fears. What the lover and the archdemon
share in common is they both love to test your boundaries. Though
using different methods, they will take you to that very place in
yourself which is forbidden and unknown. It is only there that the
fire of spirit dwelling within you is unleashed and finally freed.
But a great martial artist, a self-made billionaire, or a masterful
politician who overcomes all opposition can still afford to feel
superior and indulge him or herself in feeling he is above others.
But not a magician. This is because a magician is not in competition
with other human beings. His goal is not to dominate, out shine, or
out perform others.
His spiritual identity is not defined by his peer group, society,
culture, civilization, philosophy, religion, or occult tradition.
Instead, the ineffable, wondrous, and magnificent beauty of Divine
Providence walks by his side and is his guide. When you have this
inspiration in your heart, glory, fame, honor, and power mean very
little to you. You can use them to serve your purposes but in
themselves they are without merit or interest.
And so the first difficulty--the great amount of work extending
over years--requires of you that you have your own inspiration and
motivation to sustain your commitment. For me, Bardon provides
very little in the way of inspiration and it is a strain for me to try to
find a devotional sentence in his books. You could say that this is
because of the milieu in which Bardon wrote. He was systematic,
analytical, detailed, and required that his students master every
single exercise before going on to the next.
Still, when I think about Bardon's work, I recall how I spent three
days meditating one time in a stone circle on Mull Island in
Scotland. Each stone embodies a different cosmic letter or druid
Ogham letter from some ancient time. The energies were placed in
those stones as a legacy to be passed down to future generations.
One of the stones embodied the cosmic letter R. This is solar
energy--dazzling, bright, self-radiant, and eternal light.
But this stone also cloaks itself. When you first approach it and
place your hand upon it, it hides and conceals its power and joy lest
those who are exposed too quickly before their time become blinded
and no longer treasure the experiences of daily life. You have to sit
with this stone for a while in complete stillness. Then like an old
friend who has mastered all wisdom on our planet, it greets you and
invites you to discuss whatever is on your heart and in your mind.
Bardon is like that for me. I see him as a gate keeper or as a dean
of admissions to a spiritual college. He is both friendly but he also
takes a very close look at your credentials as he evaluates your level
of commitment. His books, then, naturally are open, inviting, and
also very demanding. They put questions to you which you did not
expect and that require you be fully alert and forceful in reply.
The second difficulty I have had with attaining astral equilibrium is
that I find there is no continuity in the practice. Psychologists, for
example, like to take society for granted. It is the training field and
arena in which personality is challenged. For this reason,
psychologists like to assist in making individuals successful, creative,
satisfied, happy, and fulfilled.
But a magician is not practicing magical equilibrium in order to be
more successful and fulfilled within his society. He is striving to
attain equilibrium in the midst of other practices involving high
magick. He is continuously developing and testing the boundaries
of his imagination as well as learning to enter at will worlds which
are invisible to the people around him.
Consequently, in high magick, you continuously bring new
treasures of spirit, new insights and fabulous experiences, back with
you into your ordinary life. Unless you proceed with great caution
and remain in complete charge of your life, these experiences can
easily overwhelm and overshadow everything else you are doing.
They are all assaults on magical equilibrium. They heighten, twist,
or intensify one element over the others. And so you have to work
to keep the four elements within yourself in balance. In order
words, no matter how much I think I know about myself and my
astral body, working with Bardon's system constantly forces me to
confront new and unexpected aspects of myself.
Let me put this another way. Studying magick for me is like
having a life long relationship with an extremely seductive mistress.
She is so incredibly beautiful! With ease, she uncovers my most
secret desires. She produces exotic states of intoxication, bliss, and
ecstasy so that I really begin to wonder if it would ever be possible
to live my life without her.
Don't laugh. I occasionally meet real women like that. One of the
goals of magick is to hold conversation with your Holy Guardian
Angel or to evoke the highest aspect of your inner spirit--the
immortal, eternal, enlightened, and utterly transcendent aspect of
yourself. When I casually hold hands with one woman, this
transcendent guardian spirit appears visible to my eyes in the room.
This psychic result would seem to be one of those odd things which
sometimes happen when you practice magick.
Some of Bardon's exercises introduce you to the infinite freedom
existing on the inner planes. All four planes open up to you. Then
you behold an astonishing universe. Like I say, magick is like an
extremely seductive woman--she is completely inside of you and
knows your every thought, dream, and desire. Next to her beauty
and affection, everything else is pale by comparison.
This of course is also a powerful assault on magical equilibrium.
The magick is itself an addiction. You can swear the addiction off
by returning again and again to mastering the basic exercises. But
even as you work so hard on them she (magick) will come back to
you and offer you some new, unexpected gift--a new magical ability
or way of seeing or changing the world which is so astonishing and
dramatic you fall again under her spell.
Am I just saying what gurus have been hounding on for ages--
namely, working with psychic powers and siddhis are a sure way of
losing your spiritual path? The glamour automatically inflates the
individual's ego and sense of power so that the journey to the higher
planes is lost?
I think if I had been able to study directly with Bardon during the
late forties and early fifties, my practice would have been completely
different. I would have mastered the dense aspects of the four
elements. That is, I would have had far more etheric power. My
personal will would have been far more than it is now. Bardon
would have had me laboring away on the first book for ten years
without permitting me to take a peek at his other works. My astral
psychic perception would be fabulous.
But this did not happen. Until recently, I knew only a few
students who practiced Bardon and they provided very little support.
Though I have studied many esoteric traditions, I have worked with
no magicians or esoteric lodges. I proceeded on my own.
Consequently, it was very important for me in the beginning to
probe the entire metaphysical system Bardon was presenting. I
needed to authenticate it and also to make it my own. Early on, I
spent much of three years using my psychic abilities to tune into the
vast array of spiritual beings whom Bardon describes in such rich
and suggestive detail in his second book on evocation. My goal has
been to build a very clear picture of the entire spiritual universe so I
could reflect its beauty, majesty, and wonder within my astral body.
For Bardon, astral equilibrium is a state of being in balance and in
control of the four elements in your personality. For me, astral
equilibrium is this. But it is also a state of rapture, a trance, and an
ecstasy in which I feel at one with everything that exists. Jvar, the
spirit of Leo in the earthzone who specializes in magical equilibrium,
pointed this out to me. He said it is natural for me to radiate the
cosmic letter J on the akashic plane. This is a feeling of cosmic
love. It fills in for something which is missing in myself.
And so my response to the gurus who complain about magicians
pursuing siddhis and magical powers is this: "I have studied this
mistress and searched her soul. And she, in turn, has revealed to me
her secret, magical name.
"Her name is cosmic love--and nothing in the universe is separate
from her beauty. She holds the world within her heart. There is no
aspect of life or ideal she places higher than something else. No
plane of awareness is pursued or considered to be of greater merit
than any other. Truth understands every individual's unique path of
fulfillment and also the oneness which sustains the whole."
I would suggest something in addition to the rigorous practice of
attaining the magical equilibrium as Bardon describes it. I would
suggest that the student right at the beginning explore his or her own
sense of the sacred. It is the degree and quality of your inspiration
which also empowers you to balance and harmonize the four
elements in yourself. To this end, I have included an exercise on
transcendence on my web page under this second chapter psychic
practice.
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