Note: I had to edit this article on line since my two versions of Works didn't like each other and produced some odd characters in the script. If you notice something funny in a spelling, I missed it.
Meditations on the Salamander Aphtiph--Faith, Conviction, and Absolute Power
Outline Introduction Aphtiph's Aura On Internalizing Aphtiph's Qualities and Powers The Cosmic Letter K Four Points for Internalizing Aphtiph's Energy Concluding Comments
Aphtiph is one of the eight salamanders mentioned by Franz Bardon in his book, The Practice of Magical Evocation. The notes which follow are not intended as a description of Aphtiph. Instead, they represent my thoughts after meditating on Aphtiph's energy and will.
For me, Aphtiph's aura is an embodiment of the cosmic letter K which Bardon describes in his third book, The Key to the True Quabbalah. The letter K, according to Bardon, is one of the 26 or so cosmic energies which the Creator created the universe. Inherent in creation is a sovereignty and will which has the highest insight into the meaning behind the world.
This will is extremely important because it unites in itself the visible and the invisible, the manifest and the manifest. In more common terms, it is embodied in faith and conviction. This is the faith which transforms the world.
Aphtiph's Outer Aura. Aphtiph's aura is extremely commanding, demanding, and controlling. These qualities derive from the intensity and the purity of the fire with which Aphtiph works.
Aphtiph is similar in appearance to a human though perhaps a little more slender. He is like a very sincere young man who happens to hold the mysteries of fire within his hands. If Aphtiph were a human being, say a high school student, he would be president of his class and voted most likely to succeed. This would not be because he is popular or appealing. It would happen because his sincerity has an astonishing effect on others.
Later on he would be elected the youngest person to ever become a U.S. Senator. He has that kind of glow and promise about him. Even his enemies would admit forthright that his integrity is without equal.
Inner Aura. Aphtiph perceives the energy within and behind anything which exists. He sees the form which is present but he is naturally aware of what motivates and animates with life force and spirit the thing he is perceiving.
I think it is always important in evocation to emphasize that any spirit of whatever rank is best utilized as a teacher who assists you on your path to perfection. The powers and abilities they possess are meant to become your own. A spirit can do a whole lot for you. But you will always be ten times further along on your path if you can take a small part of that spirit's abilities and make them part of your self
The four points I mention latter on are a presentation of the fundamental qualities which Aphtiph embodies. But they are not expressed with Aphtiph's words or his perspective. Aphtiph possesses a fierce, primordial, fiery energy on the astral and etheric planes. What I do is translate what that energy means in human terms.
Aphtiph does not need to talk about faith, conviction, or belief. He embodies these energies. For him, they are a pure form of action. There is no need for cognition or interpretation. Faith and conviction are inherent in the act of concentration and perception.
When you make a picture in your mind of what you want, the act of concentrating on that picture makes it happen. When you look to see what courses of action you have open to you, you see an entirely different world if you have the faith which believes that you can accomplish whatever you need to do. Faith creates results and it finds things which otherwise remain hidden.
The cosmic letter K is a silvery blue colored fiery energy. It represents the first light of manifestation. It is not the unmanifest aspect of divinity. That is found more in letters like SH, E, and U.
The K is also not the raw power and might of fire which is seen in the letter S which is your basic cosmic force. The letter S is an accumulation of fiery power. By contrast, the K is the light which fire emits. It is the first and highest illumination of light within the visible spectrum.
Basically, the letter K represents authority over the manifested aspect of creation. It is the original principle of sovereignty, that is, it is an aspect of the will of those agents who act purely on behalf and out of complete union with Divine Providence.
Obviously, anyone who touches this aspect of fire and faith should have a great sense of their humanity and possess a humility which is equal to the power they wield. Any power, of course, is easily abused. Any human being with power can easily suffer from an inflated ego and make the incredible mistake of imagining that possessing power somehow makes you valuable.
Nonetheless, the cosmic letter K is everywhere around us. The Fuller brush man who sells brushes door to door (one of whom turned into Billy Grahm, the famous evangelist) or any salesman or advertising agency works with the cosmic letter K. Any lobbyist, revolutionary, or reformer's success depends on his ability to trade and persuade on the basis of this energy.
Every prophet or evangelist is a salesman because they are trying to take a vision and make it reality. They ask for or demand a change in your behavior. And when they speak, they present themselves as if there is nothing more important than the words they have to share.
Lovers give their lives into each other's hands because the partner makes them feel more important and valuable than anything else in their life. Lovers take possession of each other based on this light--that there is nothing more profound or powerful in life than the love they have to give with each other.
The letter K, then, reveals the world as it is and as it is meant to be. Its degree of faith and conviction are without equal. Its endurance and persistence have no match. And quite naturally, based on its revolutionary and divine authority, it claims possession of the world. A prophet like Isaiah can proclaim that they will beat their swords into plow shares and their spears into pruning hooks not because God will intervene and make it happen. This prophecy will be fulfilled because a day will come when there are men and women who have the love to accomplish this result.
When you meet individuals with authority reflecting the cosmic letter K, you will notice they often have a negative version. They may challenge you to attain your highest in life. They may offer you the greatest insight into who you are and what you will one day be. They may have the wealth of the earth and spirit to offer you out of generosity.
But they can also be negative in that their demands serve selfish purposes. They use and manipulate you to serve their ends. Their insight is limited. Their relationship to you involves too much demand and command.
Every religion has it shadow. Doctrines and ideas love to be exclusive so that they can define themselves in opposition to something else. In the history of Christianity, there are times when we see an organization so thirsty for power it steals from its practitioners their ability to seek and to experience God for themselves. At such times, it fails to offer individuals the tools they need to attain inner union with divinity. Deep down in its heart it wants a monopoly and it is willing to annihilate its own sources of inspiration in order to preserve control.
Faith is often mixed with other things like hate and fear. Then it is willing to torture others or demand that dissenters go into exile in the exactly the same way that the Roman empire used to do to the early Christians. You do not need to listen to the content of people's words to figure out what they are saying.
I tell my kids when they watch various proponents of doctrines on TV, tTurn off the sound and look at the face and gestures. Turn the sound on but only listen to the tones and qualities of the voice. What is the energy they are conveying? Is it love or fear? Are they empowering you or trying to take power from you?
In summary, the letter K--the image and power of absolute faith-- is a terrible energy when it presents itself in a negative way. Like a dictator or tyrant, it feels it has the right to torment and twist othersF lives if that is what it needs to get what it wants. I have seen this again and again. But those who dream, desire, envision, or who seek their destiny must decide if they will draw upon the positive power of faith and conviction. The letter K is the power of divinity acting through a human being. Even reality will negotiate in good faith with what such an individual demands.
1. Imagine faith and conviction on the highest conceivable level. They are part of a will which is perfect, complete, and absolute. This faith, conviction, and will belong to those who join themselves to Divine Providence.
Such an individual can say, "I embody the laws of the universe. My actions are an expression of their perfection, their beauty, their harmony, and their authority."
From the point of view of the salamander Aphtiph, every kind of matter has a temperature at which it vaporizes and turns into a gas. Every molecule has a temperature at which its chemical bonds dissolve and the different atoms separate from each other. Every kind of atom has a temperature at which nuclear forces binding the protons and neutrons of the nucleus divide or fuse so that a different element results or else the atom splits into subatomic particles.
The ability in fire to command derives from a heat so intense that the forces binding matter dissolve. The power of heat supersedes and has command over all other laws of nature. This principle is absolute and effective throughout the entire universe.
Faith is built on this principle. There is an intensity of conviction which is so strong it dissolves every kind of obstacle. This is because its vibration is more primary and dominant than the energy bonds and configurations in form, matter, or anything in manifestation.
In other words, fire has a sensation within it which is very similar to the energy within an individual with strong faith. Aphtiph"s aura has both--the sensation of intense heat which is at the same pure faith. But a candle burning in a church or temple is not significant because of the intensity of heat present. It is the light illuminating the darkness which symbolizes hope and the desires of the heart.
Stars in the sky at night are just accumulations of cosmic dust and gas which managed to reach a point of density where fusion occurs and they ignite. But every star has a spiritual component. They are focal points for the heart God. They reveal aspects and qualities of an infinite love. It takes a big universe with a lot of stars to even hint at the nature of omnipresent love.
There is, then, a basic connection between comprehending fire and embodying faith. When fire reaches a certain degree of heat, it emits a light which illuminates the world and offers new life as does the star we call our sun. If you can imagine this fire and this degree of heat so you feel perfectly one with it, then faith will be easy for you. If you can see the sun in the sky and feel that star burning inside of yourself, then you are learning form the created universe about who we really are.
The earth has been illuminated by the sun for four and a half billion years and yet the sun goes on burning bright and strong. It has played its part in creating life on earth. This fire and light are within every one of us. Each of us is meant to illuminate and transform the world through love. You can see this intense heat and light in a star. You can see this same intense heat and light in the heart that loves. There is no limit to its illumination. Its inspiration is inexhaustible.
The first point, then, is to imagine faith and conviction on the highest conceivable level. There have been men and women of faith and conviction in history. Their works have been astonishing and they have enriched the human race. Imagine you are inside of these individuals and that you embody their faith. But donFt stop there.
Feel the beauty of the universe burning inside of you. Become a candle flame which in keeping watch during the night represents all the love an individual feels for another who has departed. And be a star which has been saying to the human race since our beginning-- vAwake. Rise up and attain to your destiny.v Find this light inside yourself so that you have the illumination to follow your path.
Personal Thoughts: Faith is also something personal. It is transmitted from one human being to another. For this reason, it is very helpful to do case studies of the lives of saints or of those who have transformed themselves through faith. It is great to sit down and listen to someone tell their life story. Because as you listen you discover those moments when they exercised their faith, their volition, and their conviction to become more than themselves.
My track coach in high school, the former Marine captain, transmitted to me a conviction about getting the job done. His belief in what I could do empowered me to attain my highest. Similarly, when I was handed the controls of an airplane at age eleven and left to fly it for three hours, it conveyed to me the power command. Or, about the same age, during a night watch, my uncle gave me the helm of his forty-five foot sailboat during an important race. For me, these were tremendous moments because another placed his trust in me and offered me a taste of his deepest sense of joy.
All of which is to say that for me the highest conceivable faith and conviction involves doing what you love to do. It is kind of like the first commandment, tLove God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.v This is impossible to do without internalizing in yourself the absolute faith and conviction of the cosmic letter K. In other words, absolute faith, conviction, power, and will are born from out of love.
My conservative Christian friends relish their Christian community--they take great satisfaction in the way they have the same beliefs, actions, and forms of worship. They love their traditions. They have developed a strong faith which has been nourished by their community.
But my Jewish friends point out that the Bible does not say, "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Instead, it says, "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." The point is that each had to seek God for himself and in his own way in order to find Him. If you are going to interact with the unmanifest source of the manifest universe, you have to be not only pure and devout but also original. If you interact with a Creator, it makes you creative. It does not make you a slave. It definitely does not make you feel weak and without power. It does not make you a carbon copy of other people or a clone of a teacher.
2. This faith penetrates, contains, and illuminates whatever it touches. It reveals the highest purposes of life and the source of another's being. By virtue of its authority and light, it commands and makes available the best resources of both the physical and the spiritual world.
Again, as fire produces light, faith produces an inner illumination. This light of faith, like the light of stars whose rays reach the ends of the universe, is so bright, so penetrating and commanding, nothing is hidden from it. It grasps the totality--every aspect and facet--of what it gazes upon.
Without the highest faith and conviction, you can still have great wisdom, enlightenment, knowledge, love, harmony, and peace. Your life can be rich and satisfying. There is no question about this.
But what the highest faith does is that it lays claim to the physical world as its domain and sphere of action. It is so furious and intense, its purity so divine, that it fuses together matter and spirit so that two domains can not be kept separate.
It takes a physical situation and offers not a higher but the highest purpose and use for that situation. Or it takes a spiritual purpose and, by virtue of a will which is normally beyond human reach, it lays claim to the resources it needs so that purpose can fully manifest.
In practical terms, whatever motivates someone, whatever instinct or drive is behind their actions, this faith steps in and offers a more powerful desire and a more commanding vision. It does this because it sees what is inside every human being. It sees the reasons why people have been created and it sees courses of action which no one else can conceive.
Personal Thoughts. I don't suppose anyone goes out and learns to see through the eyes of God or master the cosmic letter K on first try. You learn by seeing through everyone's eyes. And you develop your will step by step by mastering one problem or challenge at a time. If you are comfortable imagining what life is like for other human beings and you feel you are in charge of your life, it is not so difficult to learn to see through the eyes of various spirits.
I often try to understand others by gazing at them through the eyes of Ugolog, Cermiel, or the archangel Gabriel. These spirits specialize in revealing the deep seated purposes, karma, and destiny behind human incarnations.
There is this funny thing, though, about prophecy. When an elemental being or an archangel like Gabriel gives you a prophetic vision of what shall be, they are really only showing you what is possible. For that vision to manifest, they expect you or the human race to use a magical and divine will to bring it about.
At the same time, especially when you look at the lives of great entrepreneurs and businessmen, what makes them so successful is the level of faith and conviction they embody. To their credit, they have been unwavering in their determination and relentless in their endurance. On the other hand, many times they have taken a divine principle of faith and applied it only to material ends.
They have failed to embody the divine light shining within themselves. They have failed to recreate the world through love. They have failed to see that success is not just about prosperity but about justice, peace, and equality. They have made a home for themselves in a hostile world but they have failed to make the world into a home for all living beings.
Alice Bailey likes to talk about the sixth ray of devotion and sacrifice. It grants individuals incredible faith and determination to pursue their cause. They are willing to make great sacrifices for a higher purpose. But there is always something selfish behind what they are doing.
For this reason, they like to commit to beliefs which make them feel special and different from other human beings. They like to feel elite because they have tthe truthv which no one else has. They are true believers. This is a natural human response.
Con men love to play on the human need to feel special, to get in on a "deal." But eventually individuals make a transition. Their cause becomes more universal. They no longer want to feel special because of their beliefs or the advantages they have over other people. Instead, they want to feel the satisfaction which comes from seeing the results of having taken on positions of responsibility
When people use power to promote a cause which serves a specific group of people, it is easy to lose the sense of beauty and justice which motivated them in beginning. Are there revolutionaries, men of great power, who are practical, pragmatic, and effective who also celebrate in their hearts the sacredness of all of life? Are there those who fight with great will for a specific cause who also seek to an equal extent to be fair to everyone with whom they interact? Can they honor not only their own life path and religious instincts but all paths of life and the soul within every human being?
I like CHibys, a spirit of the solar sphere, on this point. He says, tPass through the heart of every kind of being, embrace the divine light in every path of life, and then you will see the great harmony which governs all of creation.v
3. Anything which manifests physically or which has presence as spirit is under the control of this will because this will is the source from which matter, spirit, space, and time derive. This light, this faith are the focal point through which the original purposes of creation are revealed.
There is a power which moves without love. This power is destructive. There is a power which moves with, for, and out of love. This power is creative.
To control is not to destroy, degrade, or reduce in value, not when your will derives from the highest light of creation. Ego is not and can not be a part of such a will. In this light, the only intent is to bless, to fulfill, and to enrich life.
There was once a magical theory which stated that if you knew something's magical name, you had power over that thing. This wasnFt an external way of knowing. To know another's magical name meant that you were one with its sources of inspiration. You embodied the energies and elements which made it what it is--you are everything which grants it life, health, beauty, and wholeness.
In this sense, nothing can resist your voice because you speak from the core of the other's being. You represent all that they love and cherish about themselves as well as their dreams. True faith is like that.
It neither sells a set of man made doctrines nor does it promote a cause, philosophy, religion, or political agenda. Its nature is to reveal the highest purposes of creation because its eyes see with the first light which brought life and the universe into being. It perceives the roots and history of any institution, karma, desire, or agenda. It contains within itself every motivation.
For this reason, its presence bears the weight of fate and destiny because it assumes total responsibility. While maintaining order and continuity, it also demands original creativity. When it says, tGive me what I need,v it is embodying a prayer which is both terrifyingly pure and utterly sublime as it proclaims, tMay the work of Divine Providence be fulfilled on earth.
Consider when others have tried to control your will, to exert an influence over you, to command or bind you? When has this been a positive thing and when has it been negative? What did they want from you? Did they want your money, your body, your emotions, you beauty, your ability to work, your mind and skills? Or did they exercise a diabolical malice which wanted to posses and destroy your will? Everything else was merely an means to attain this end.
Some of the most generous individuals I have every met have been very devoutly religious. But repressed sexuality is a sure thing if your goal is to produce conditions leading to demonic malice. One evangelical preacher I knew, to put it as fairly as I can, wished to rape the souls of those he who sought to save. With more skill than any Stephen King, he implanted terror, horror, and fear in the souls of children. He embodied the negative version of the cosmic letter K. His faith sought to destroy, to bind, and to blind rather than to free, liberate, and empower to create.
The reason I can write about the letter K and feel comfortable doing so is not because I have met individuals who embodied faith in a positive way. It is because I have met so many powerful spiritual teachers whose mastery of faith and the ability to materialize their goals was based on manipulating others. Their success has been a function of their ability to command othersF wills.
Consequently, over the years, I have had to do a lot of processing. I have spent decades trying to comprehend this fire which is absolute faith and will. I have wanted to place power and will within a larger context so I can see precisely how they exist to serve the greater purpose of love. For me, power in every form deserves respect. Even the most negative exists to serve a purpose. It fills in to provide order and motivation until those who are subject to it commit to a higher calling.
I have a ritual relating to Eralicarision, a spirit of 23 degrees in
Leo in the earthzone, under my essay on The Shadow in
Psychology and Magick. Eralicarision summarizes the motivation of
a magician through the following words which one student of
Bardon called, the magician's prayer:
"May the work I perform in training to be a magician serve the
highest light of Divine Providence. May divine justice, fair play,
and harmony shine through and within all that I do. May the words
I speak, the breath I breathe, the light in my eyes, and the love in my
heart transform the world around me. May my path be anointed
with Divine beauty.
"May all who enter my life see divine peace reflected through me. May the truth of the universe, the mystery of creation, the light which sustains and shines within every created being use me as its servant. May my will be so perfected that in the end there is no distinction between the satisfaction of my desires and the work of Divine Providence on earth."
4. The universe exists to celebrate love. Power, will, faith, and conviction serve this purpose. The ultimate and highest source of power and will are found in the ability to join and be one with anything. Those who embrace the oneness of the universe have access, if they so desire, to the creative, original, and sovereign power of Divine Providence.
In review, my first point was to imagine the highest level of faith and conviction. In point two, we touched upon the original, first light which reveals the highest purpose within and behind anything which is manifest. In point three, we saw the power to take charge of and be held responsible for anything in manifestation.
It might seem from all of this that faith is goal oriented, that its job is to get things done and to manifest its purposes. But these effects are secondary.
In its essence, faith is a celebration of love. It is the bird that sings at dawn and the archangel who shouts for joy a the first moment of creation. It is the bliss that will forever ask lovers to recreate themselves and the world through love.
It is the heart which knows that all of the universe, every galaxy, every star, every planet, every evolution and being, is a part of its love. It is the soul who has found his or her way into the heart of God and who now burns with those flames.
In truth, power is nothing at all but the ability to create, to make something new, and to make life more beautiful, satisfying, and fulfilling. In the heart of faith, everything is sacred and holy. Every being, thing, and creature shines with inner light. The greatest challenge to such faith is to endure the ecstasy of tasting this love which knows itself to be a part of and within everything.
Personal Thoughts. I have run into this ecstasy several times, not just here and now as I meditate with Aphtiph. One of the stones in a stone circle on Mull Island off Scotland has this energy--the cosmic letter K. When I placed my hand on that stone, I sensed a cosmic level of will--a will which was complete and absolute.
But as I continued to meditate, the will and power vanished. I was left with an image in my mind of being joined to the sea of stars in the sky. Cosmic will and power are the same as feeling one with the universe and this feeling is great ecstasy. For a picture of the stone circle on Mull Island (The picture of the stone circle is under my section on the Gnome's Homepage).
At another time when I was encouraging an earthzone spirit named Zagriona to help me in publishing, Zagriona found me a muse. This muse I perceive as a bird of terrifying beauty who flies between the stars.
He will not give me his name until that day and that moment when I find and enter the world from which he comes. His aura and presence celebrate this cosmic ecstasy. And though all he ever does is inspire me to write poetry, he embodies the highest will I will every acquire. For this muse, to write a poem is to recreate the world through love. The power of the archangels are bound into the metaphors and sounds of the poem.
The first spirit of the sphere of Mercury which Bardon lists, Vehuiah, is perhaps the best representative in my experience of absolute faith. Vehuiah's power name is JHWH. The letter J in that name embodies a sense of the oneness, the joining for the sake of love and celebration of all beings whether physical or spiritual. Actions, then, are intended to express the oneness, harmony, beauty, magnificence, and lawful order of the universe.
The problem is that the manifestation of the will of these Mercury spirits is so sacred and powerful it may at times cause great destruction as a side effect. You see, anything which opposes or hinders their purposes from being fulfilled gets pushed aside or annihilated. It is kind of like a laser beam of light or too much sunlight--the light is so bright it burns away what it touches.
For Bardon, therefore, the sphere of Mercury is balanced by the lunar sphere which offers an inner union with the harmony of the universe, inner peace, serenity, and, above all, a sense of the rhythmic seasons and cycles of nature and change. There is a time and a place for the highest purposes to manifest. There is a harmonious way to bring about peace. And there is a way to express the highest power and will with gentleness without compromising the purpose it embodies.
Consequently, if you can keep absolute faith and will completely positive, they turn enemies into friends. They take the worst conflicts of life and use them as an opportunity to offer spiritual gifts. They speak quietly, with a still, calm voice, yet a voice that contains thunder, the hurricane, the tsunami, and the earthquake within it, that this is the time to rise up and walk in the light.
I suspect that if you were to ever meet those who embody the highest conceivable faith and conviction, they will speak to you in a gentle and tender voice. Yet their words will rise from the core of your being and embody the perfection of your ideals and dreams. Power gets things done. It offers independence and freedom. But the highest power is always a celebration of love.
The throat chakra often expresses faith, conviction, determination, commitment, and adaptability. Some individuals are very spontaneous. They can catch an opportunity right in the moment as it appears. Other individuals know they can get something done even when it seems impossible but it may take them a long time before they figure out how to do it.
There are those whose minds are so clear thoughts never confuse them. They see what they want and they move toward it inspite of massive amounts of confusion. And there are those who just have the tough endurance which goes with making something happen. They stick to it because their passion and belief are relentless.
All of the above traits are characteristic of the strength and kind of energy in the throat chakra. But the throat chakra is balanced by the lower, sexual chakra--the second chakra. The second chakra is more lunar. It is where you have a natural sense of happiness, of when something feels right, of what works for you individually, and of those things which are healing, renewing, and reviving.
When the second chakra is weaker than the throat chakra, the creativity expressed through the throat chakra can be hit and miss. Sometimes it is there and sometimes isnFt. The creativity, the faith, conviction, or determination make the individual exhausted. Consequently, creative people limit their creativity to very narrow channels of expression.
If you balance the second chakra and the throat chakra, then you can look on any experience with the same zest and inspiration. Anything you do can become an activity which is joyful, playful, and new.
You can say then that if you are going to work with an absolute faith--which is the throat chakra--you also need an equally strong sense of attaining an inner peace with the universe. If you are going to speak with a voice which says with absolute certainty, tThis is what shall be,v then you also need its counterpart. You need is counterpart--that second chakra feeling of being one with all things.