A few notes on energy work

o

The other day I commented upon a blog post made by Frater A.I.T. where he proposes that meditation constitutes energy work, especially meditation of the kind that uses “prayer” to aspire towards God or the ALL. He mentions Alchemical Masters who often admonished their students to use Prayer in their workings. My good Frater also proposes extended practice several hours per day as the true key to aquiring immortality, warning the student against becoming content with the standard daily half or whole hour exercise. I basically agree with Frater A.I.T. in almost every word, with the only exception of contrasting energy work with ritual. Meditation surely is “energy work”, or is “energetic” in its nature; and with “energy” I am referring to both astral, etheric and physical forms in this context. Furthermore, meditation also has the great benefit of simplicity. I myself often meditate on the tram to and from work, and sometimes while I walk along a street.

My own experiences, that I would like to share with you for the first time since I started this blog, has taught me that it is the Words of Power (or the “matram” to use an equivalent oriental term) used in meditation that makes the energetic work done. The power of words triggers it; or at least the logos has some important part in all of this “raising of energy”. I have found out, through my own intuition, that a particular set of vowels really gets my energetic juices flowing so to speak, even if I only “say” them mentally (i.e. silently without using my mouth), which is how I do it in the majority of cases because of meditating in the public. The simple thought and focus upon the Word triggers the energy!

This meditation of my own device, silently using a power “mantram” of the Western Esoteric Tradition, and with no particular visualization, together with another energetic meditative exercise which I was taught in the R.R. et A.C., which make use of both vibrated Words of Power and visualizations, in fact “awakened” or “activated” my energetic body, centered along my spinal column.

I have always with ease felt etheric “energy” while doing invocations, especially in working God-Form Magic and intoning the Enochian Keys, but that feeling of energy has more been of a gentle type, even though I have felt it being spread through the whole of my physical body, either as a shower falling from my head or as a surge raising from the feet. Since I awakened my Serpent Fire along my spinal column, using the aforementioned techniques of meditative nature, the sensations has been much more intensified, as physical nerv currents of electricity and sometimes approximating orgasmic sensations; also regular invocations using Supreme or Greater Invocation Rituals (of the Pentagram and Hexagram) awakens this latter flow in my energetic body centered in a never before felt intensity along the spine.

I have been hesitant to share this highly personal gnosis with you, my dear reader, but feel that I must deviate from my principles of secrecy to make you understand that I base my opinions on my own practical experiences. So I must add to what Frater A.I.T. have stated in his blog, that also Ceremonial Magic – the use of ritual by and of itself – constitutes true energetic work. Thus I see no actual difference between meditation and ritual in importance, other that the use of ritual requires much more preparation and cannot be performed everywhere as with meditation. Thus it is simpler and more practical to use meditation as the basis for one’s work. But one shouldn’t substitute ritual work with meditation as I believe that the former is crucial in manifesting it fully in the physical body, because of the physical movements and different postures being done. Lets not underestimate the value of movement and posture!

To use a comparison between the traditions of the occident and the orient. While the meditative exercises may be compared to Hindu Yoga or Tibetan Buddhism, Ceremonial Magic may be compared to Taoist energetic work such as Qi-Gong, or Thai Chi, etc. Both perspectives on spiritual exercise work splendidly and should be seamlessly integrated in the Adept’s work, and also in that of the Aspirant’s, constituting a work in two parts.

So, in the final analysis I agree that meditation should be extended and used in prolonged application also outside of the traditional ritual Oratory, as often as one may find moments of opportunity in the daily affairs of life, simply because it is manageable to use in this way. And that this is the key to success I can attest fully with myself as a living example. It is always when I devote myself to the work fully, and in most aspects of my life, when I harvest the most true results.

I also agree with Frater A.I.T.:s advice to study the Western Alchemical Tradition in conjunction with the Eastern counterparts, as the latter are so related to the Western equivalents when it comes to energy work and alchemical applications, especially the traditions of Tantra, of Hatha Yoga and the practices of the Nath and Rasa Siddhas. A very good introduction to the Eastern tradition for the western Alchemist and Magician is David Gordon White’s books, such as The Alchemical Body and Kiss of the Yogini. While being academic works they also gives ample references to the original source and canonical texts. These books have the advantage of describing Tantra and Yoga as it was meant to be when these text books were written in the mediaeval times, i.e. the historical point of view, not the New Age stance on these topics that often divides matter from spirit, as well as energy from the body.

S∴R∴

Mentalism in the New Age

o

The latest hype of commercialism in the New Age market is the so-called “Law of Attraction,” promoted and profited through the movie from 2006 entitled The Secret, which a year later developed into the book bearing the same title. This book and movie presents the Law of Attraction in a manner giving the impression that this has been an occulted and guarded secret passed on between initiates; we have to thank The Secret for its disclosure. In this little essay I will try to put this term into its proper context. This is especially important as the Law of Attraction lately (and after the release of The Secret) has become associated with the Golden Dawn Tradition because of Robert Zink, one of the original founders and recently expelled Chief of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn (formerly known as the Hermetic Order of the Morning Star International and Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn International).

The Secret presents the Law of Attraction in a way that easily may be summed up as: “You get the life that you deserve, your thoughts and ideas attracts the attention of the universe and you must reap what you have sown.” Or to simplify matters even more the entire philosophy may be summed up as: “Like attracts like.” The truth is, however, that this book or movie doesn’t present anything new at all – nor does it present a secret. Actually the Law of Attraction is nothing more than the reused and repackaged philosophy centred on the principle of Mentalism, being part of the movement known as the “New Though”.

New Though was an early precursor of the New Age movement that formed already in the late 19th Century but grew into a major force in the early 20th Century, with authors as Napolian Hill and William Walker Atkinson (1862 – 1932). The latter often wrote using different pennames, such as “Yoga Ramacharaka” and “Magus Incognito”. It was actually the latter author who coined the term “Law of Attraction” in his 1906 seminal work Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World. He soon used the two terms “Law of Attraction” and “Mentalism” interchangeable. Or rather, it seems that the term “Law of Attraction” was the more popularised term used in the various self-help books spread in the early 20th Century, while the “Principle of Mentalism” was used in a more occult context, attached to both Western Hermeticism and Eastern Yoga.

William Walker Atkinson

One such example of the latter case is the book The Kybalion, written in 1912 by “Three Initiates”. This book presents seven Hermetic laws or principles, the first and foremost being that of Mentalism, the other principles being that of Correspondence, Vibration, Polarity, Rhythm, Cause and Effect, and Gender. Basically the principle of Mentalism teaches that the world is actually a thought form of God. And since man (the Microcosm) is made in the image of God (Macrocosm), it must be logical to assume that the human mind also has a similar creative ability as does God.

Incidentally, a quite similar book as that of The Kybalion was released in 1949 by Magus Incognito (who, remember, was one of the pennames used by William W. Atkinson), entitled The Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians, which presents seven principles very similar to those in The Kybalion. Hence one must conclude that the identity of one of these “Three Initiates” to be non other than Atkinson. It has also been proposed, at least amongst the members of the B.O.T.A., that Paul Foster Case and Michael Whitty where the other two “Initiates”.

Paul Foster Case

It is historical fact that Paul F. Case knew Atkinson personally, interacting with him in his early formative years to the point of becoming heavily influenced by his thoughts. Michael Whitty was the leader of the Rosicrucian Order of the Alpha et Omega (Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn) in the U.S. and initiated Case into the New York based Thoth-Hermes Temple No. 9. Supposedly the three “Initiates” met together and wrote The Kybalion prior to Case’s admisson into the A∴O∴ in 1918. There are also unconfirmed (and perhaps unsubstantiated) rumours that William W. Atkinson himself was initiated in the Alpha et Omega, a fact that has been used by Robert Zink to promote the Law of Attraction in the context of his Golden Dawn franchise. And I bet we will continue to see him promoting his New Age teachings in a Golden Dawn wrapping even after him being ousted from his own Order.

The principle of Mentalism, in its original non-diluted non-New Age form, can also be found in the occult organization known as the Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.), which was founded by Paul Foster Case in 1923 after he had left (or been forced to leave) the A∴O∴ two years previously. B.O.T.A. teaches an occult system through Paul Foster Case’s (and his successor Ann Davies’) correspondence courses, which basically is a synthesis and development of the Golden Dawn Tradition, New Thought, and (to a limited extent) Eastern Yoga. Both The Kybalion and Paul F. Case however, argue that the idea of a mental universe is much older than the modern occult revival and the New Thought movement, which even The Secret tries to confirm in some romanticized scenes. I concur with this belief that the principle of Mentalism is and always has been part and parcel of the Ageless Wisdom.

Paul Brunton

Similar teachings may also be found in both Zen Buddhism and in Yoga. The English yogic guru Paul Brunton is credited with making the occident aware in the early 1940’s concerning the origins of the principle of Mentalism, the unity of Spirit and Matter, as being that of the esoteric doctrine of the Orient. However, similar thoughts may also be extracted from the works of Eliphas Levi or Alphonse Louis Constant (1810 – 1875), as early as in Dogma de la Magie from 1853 and Dogme et ritual de la haute magie from 1856 (translated into English by Arthur Edward Waite as Transcendental Magic), predating the New Thought movement by several decades and proving that there exists earlier occidental teachings with many similarities to that of the oriental esoteric doctrines.

In his books Levi expounds upon his theory regarding the “Astral Light” used in Magical workings, which takes it forms according to the intents of the Magician through his will and imagination. This idea is in fact the very raison d’être of the magical doctrine as propounded by modern Rosicrucian Orders such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. However, I personally don’t believe that Levi concocted up this theory himself but that he simply drew and expounded upon a much older tradition with its roots in Hermeticism.

Eliphas Levi

Later Sigmund Freud argued in his Totem and Taboo that these beliefs are rooted in the earliest forms of animism, in the belief systems of primitive tribes, which precedes that of religion. He calls this the “all power of thoughts” and compares this phenomenon with the primitive and narcissistic mind of the child. This “magical” thinking also forms the basis for regressive tendencies in pathological compulsive neurosis, but in a much more severe and darker form; the fear of what the mind may cause to one’s surroundings and the accompanying feelings of self-reproach and guilt. Thus one may conclude that the principles of Mentalism forms the very foundation of the Hermetic magical philosophy, while we in animism may find a ancient and primitive form of a human belief system regarding the relation between man and his environment.

To problematize Freud’s assumptions, which are not factually inaccurate per se, his colleague Carl Gustav Jung furthermore holds that the ego of the child’s is in a union with the Self (The Higher and Transcendental Self), at least initially, but that the process of Individuation (maturing) creates separation between them. However, Jung also proposes the possibility of reunion between the ego and Self on a mature level, later in adult life. Making a comparison between animism and Hermeticism, the former may bee seen as a naive but intuitive understanding of real existential facts while the principle of Mentalism could bee looked upon as a more mature notion that aims at seeing beyond primitive personal omnipotence into a divine and sacred one instead.

Sigmund Freud

This being said, I still believe it is wise to make a distinction between the principle of Mentalism of Ageless Wisdom (in both the occident and orient) and that of the New Age concept regarding the Law of Attraction. The main difference is that in the Law of Attraction, at least as it is presented in The Secret, we basically are presented with a extremely infantile form of narcissism, while with the principle of Mentalism we have a mature form of a concept which tries to see the innate correspondence between Spirit and Matter, but at the same time not denouncing any divine intervention or cosmic fate.

What in particular disturbs me about the New Age form of Law of Attraction, as may be seen in The Secret and the flock of New Age gurus flooding the market, is the constant focus on creating money using this technique. I feel as if the filmmakers / authors are trying to make some sort of bastard union between the American dream and the Ageless Wisdom of the Orient and Occident, which feels quite baroque for a Swedish traditionalist as me.

Carl Gustav Jung

Something that also bothers me with The Secret is the open denunciation of the existence of God (as in transcendent or higher power than man) and of destiny (as in a Macrocosm greater than the Microcosm), or something along those lines; that man is the sole creator of his own existence, etc. This is pulling the principle of Mentalism to the extreme, which makes the whole thing quite absurd and detestable. It is also what some theologians justly have criticized The Secret for – that it makes man into the sole God. Thus, The Secret is quite stereotyped in how it confirms the prevalent phenomena of New Age perversion of old mystery traditions. It is sad to see that these perverted ideas has found its way back to teachers who purports themselves to be teachers of Hermeticism and the Holy Qabalah.

Creativity is a divine attribute which makes us all part of God’s creative impulse. To believe that the ego in itself, or man himself, could create something from his own ability and will power, separate from the Will of God or from the larger Whole, is a pure delusion when seen in the light of traditional Hermeticism and its principle of Mentalism. It is certainly the best path to failure in the application of the principles of Mentalism; it may only lead to spiritual ruin if prolonged. Only by ensuring that Man and God (or the Great Creative Power, or whatever you want to call it) are as One in this act of Will and Imagination, i.e. that the human will and creative ability are but manifestations of the divine, may these principles (such as described in The Secret) lead to any real success. It thus requires a good dose of self-distance and humility.


Thus it is a serious fallacy to believe that the ego of man alone has the ability to create something, or anything, because of their “own” or “personal” ability and willingness. No matter what any deluded individual may believe it is still God (or the One) who is the sole Creative Power and Will of the Universe or Macrocosm, where the human will and creative ability is but a Microcosmic manifestation of this divine creative impulse. Man is the instrument of Divine Will with a special purpose and divine mission in this present incarnation.

This notwithstanding, it still is possible for a human mind to create something by the sole means of the imaginative faculties and willpower resident at the level of human consciousness, as is described in The Secret, even if the individual lacks any religious sentiments or even doesn’t believe in God. Individuals may even nurture the belief (which is a delusion) that they are the sole creators of their personal universes in order to achieve some “progress” in their life with the help of the tenets of The Secret.

But this progress is purely materialistic and only concerns worldly affairs (which The Secret seems to use as the major measure stick of success). The question is whether this is characteristical of real “success”. With an atheistic, agnostic or materialistic approach one may only affect the physical existence, which is limiting indeed. There is no greater spiritual development worth mentioning in these instances – at least until the individual along the road to his material success eventually does realize that there is more to life than pure material pleasure; he may find his true mission in life and real Self in the process. There is a chance that he finally realizes, when the money starts to flow, that this doesn’t answer all his questions of the meaning of life, or even cover all his needs; somehow he may realize or sense that there has been a higher power all along that has had a hand in his success. When this happens he begins to turn his attention to the true creative power and thus takes his first steps in his search for life’s true mysteries.

From Darkness to Light

Apart from this, self-help philosophies of this kind often neglect all aspects of life, especially the darker ones. It’s no surprise then that some theologians in their criticism of The Secret have pointed out the truth that life by necessity also must go through pain and suffering, as well as success and happiness. This is as simple a fact as there is a day and a night, and expresses the 4th and 5th principles of The Kybalion, that of Polarity and Rhythm; opposites are two sides of the same coin and changes into each other through regular intervals. The Secret on the other hand totally neglects the need of darkness in one’s life, and even blames the individual himself for encountering it. But it fully misses the truth of this matter that any difficult moments in our lives also provide us with valuable time for self-reflection and knowledge of our self (or Self with the capital “S”), to find our true place in life and purpose of our lives. Life is never and shouldn’t ever be a bed of roses, as portrayed in the movie The Secret, just because we choose to believe in only ourselves and that we by our own power have the ability to reshape our lives.

So in the final analysis, The Secret, which has become the new gospel of the New Age movement in its belief of the Law of Attraction, is a fairly gross over-simplification of life and the true meaning of living and leading a life as a compassionate human being. In my opinion it gives the reader or student serious blinkers which may make him miss the actual mark and create a serious stumbling block in finding his own path of return. The classical motto or axiom of Per ardua ad alta, which translates as “Through difficulties to the heights,” expresses much more truth in its four words than does The Secret through its more than 200 pages or 1½ hours of film. The true path of the initiate is best expressed through the motto Post tenebras lux or “from darkness to light.” Enough said.

S∴R∴

B.O.T.A. Chapter work

o

Before I came to be initiated into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the middle 1990’s I was a “Associate Builder” of the Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.) for a couple of years prior to my Admission, and also continued with my B.O.T.A. studies towards the end of the millennium in tandem with my Golden Dawn study and work; I found its lessons blend so well with the original Golden Dawn curriculum. I also enjoyed my study of Paul Foster Case’s correspondence courses immensely, and to a certain extent also Ann Davies’ lessons, in their own right and still keep them with me for reference.

Paul Foster Case quickly became my favourite Golden Dawn initiate, when everyone else of my fellow brethren revered either Aleister Crowley, Israel Regardie or S.L. MacGregor Mathers. Even though I regard the latter to be one of the greatest initiates of our modern era, P.F. Case came close and surely was the greatest American initiate of all time. So, for me it is naturally to notice and gather any information that I can get on either Case or the B.O.T.A.

I have made some notes before on this blog regarding Case’s involvement in the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega, from which he found his main inspiration to form the B.O.T.A., where I also quote some interesting information from Tony DeLuce regarding the B.O.T.A. Chapter work, the equivalent of a Temple in the Golden Dawn. Now recently I stumbled upon a interesting conversation between Tony DeLuce and Tony Fuller, both of them initiates of both the B.O.T.A. and the Golden Dawn Traditions, and whom I trust for their scholarly integrity and honesty, from which I have gathered some very illuminating information regarding the Chapter work of the B.O.T.A.

Ann Davies standing in front of the Banner of the East

When still a member of the B.O.T.A. I was told by people I trust that only one permillage of the members ever reached the Chapter levels, and that there probably only existed one Chapter serving the entire Europe and one in the U.S. So information regarding B.O.T.A. Chapter work is very scarce ideed; I have always known that they work a version of Golden Dawn ritual equivalent of the Outer Order and the Adeptus Minor 5°=6° Grade. Case clearly states in the B.O.T.A. lessons that his organization doesn’t initiate anyone beyond the 5°=6° and that all initiations above that is solely made between the initiate and his Higher Self or Holy Guardian Angel. But other than this, one won’t find any more information from B.O.T.A. itself regarding Chapter work, which is an extremely secluded affair althogether. One must search in different quarters. Now, the latest news says the following:

1. Paul Foster Case brought into the B.O.T.A. the Outer or First Order rituals already used in the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega (A∴O∴). This means that the First Order rituals of the B.O.T.A. Chapter is neither that of the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (G∴D∴) or the later Stella Matutina (S.M.) revisions; they follow the particular A∴O∴ formula. Here I must add my own observations regarding the “Elemental Grades”, i.e. that of Zelator (1°=10°), Theoricus (2°=9°), Practicus (3°=8°), and Philosophus (4°=7°). Between the G∴D∴, and later A∴O∴ and S.M., there are very few and only minor differences, mostly alternative wordings, etc. It is the 0°=0° Ritual which differs the most between the original G∴D∴, A∴O∴ and S.M. In the case of the A∴O∴ this is mostly seen in the so-called “antiphony”, a unique exchange of words made between the principal Officers, which has never seen the light of public before. Other than this the A∴O∴ 0°=0° Ritual differs very little from the original G∴D∴, contrary to the S.M. which has added the initial “…by Names and Images…” and changed the wordings throughout the Ceremony of Admission to make the ritual more Christian oriented.
2. However, Case changed the wordings of the A∴O∴ antiphony somewhat. Besides taking away all the Enochian references from the “Elemental Grades”, he also introduced new elements into the 0°=0° and 2°=9° which is based upon his teachings of the Cube of Space, and also brought in portions from his own The Book of Tokens into the 0°=0°. This brings my attention to the Pronaos Ritual of the B.O.T.A., which serves as a species of preparation ceremony for the 0°=0°, and the overtly stage directions made there to the Cube of Space diagram. It also seems that Case modified the Double Cubical Altar which resembles Aleister Crowley’s instructions from Book 4. Furthermore, Case, in his version of the 0°=0°, somehow emphasized the division between the opening / closing ritual and the initiation ritual. The 1°=10° seems to be virtually identical to the original A∴O∴ version, which is also the case with the 3°=8° and 4°=7° if it weren’t for the fact that considerable portions of the Officer’s speeches were removed from the latter two. When it comes to the Portal Grade Ceremony, Case didn’t use the G∴D∴ / A∴O∴ version but the one practiced in the S.M. instead, which he found in Israel Regardie’s The Golden Dawn. If the source isn’t mistaken there is also supposed to be a lesser amount of diagrams in the B.O.T.A., and those that are there are the same as the diagrams published in Crowley’s The Equinox Vol. 1 No. 2, i.e. quite few of them. It looks as Case added his own diagrams to make up for this lack. This last detail recalls something I read or heard a long time ago, that Case had returned all his A∴O∴ documents after he had resigned, and that he recreated the rituals from memory with the aid of Crowley’s The Equinox.
3. In the early phase of the B.O.T.A. Paul Foser Case only presented the 0°=0° and 1°=10° Grade Rituals for his Chapters until the 1930’s, when he supposedly closed most if not all of the Chapters. However, he later reactivated some of them and by then had written the 2°=9°, 3°=8°, 4°=7° and Portal. Case didn’t administer the 5°=6° until the early 1940’s, when he reluctantly opened his own Second Order under pressure from his Portal members. Supposedly this was done as a coup of sorts; Case’s members built a Vault of the Adepti while he was absent because of a lecture tour. Thus they took seven ping-pong tables (which have the dimensions 5 foot x 8 foot), assembled them together and painted them according to the specifications taken from Regardie’s The Golden Dawn. Case upon his return had no choice but to indulge his members. But Case produced very little 5°=6° curriculum, beyond a few papers. One of these supposedly was Charles Stanfield Jones’ (a.k.a. Fra. Achad’s) I.N.R.I.: De Mysteriis Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis! I wonder if he disregarded of the Thelemic undertones in that one!

So, the only conclusion that I can make from all of this, and the former information gathered in my previous essay, is that Paul F. Case’s version of a Golden Dawn Order were quite a diluted copy of the original, especially in its Second Order which practically were void of teachings other than the 5°=6° Ceremony itself. According to earlier information Ann Davies made no changes to the Chapters; they were operating exactly as they had been left by Case in 1954 and at least until Davies’ death in 1975. I doubt that any changes were made after that. However, the use of the Cube of Space is quite an interesting additon, even though much is also lacking in the First Order, especially in the 3°=8° and 4°=7°. The fact that Case chose to use the S.M. version of the Portal Ceremony, which introduced the foreign and masonic “Three Degrees” formula, also means that he inadvertedly took hold of a current which, figuratively speaking, invoked Rudolf Steiner’s ghost.

S∴R∴