Introduction and Workbook - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie

.....Within every man and woman is a force which directs and controls the entire course of life. Properly used, it can heal every affliction and ailment to which mankind is heir. Every single religion affirms this fact. All forms of mental or spiritual healing, no matter under what name they travel, promise the same thing. Even psychoanalysis employs this power, though indirectly, using the now popular word libido. For the critical insight and understanding which it brings to bear upon the psyche releases tensions of various kinds, and through this release the healing power latent within and natural to the human system operates more freely. Each of these systems undertakes to teach its devotees technical methods of thinking or contemplation or prayer such as will, according to the a priori terms of their philosophies, renew their bodies and transform their whole environment. None, or few of them, however, actually fulfil in a complete way the high promise made at the outset. There seems but little understanding of the practical means where the spiritual forces underlying the universe and permeating the entire nature of man may by utilized and directed towards the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. Naturally, without universal cooperation, such an ideal is impossible for all mankind. Nevertheless, each one for himself may commence the task of reconstruction..... 

 

Lesson 1 - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie, Chapter 1

.....Things go wrong in the first instance usually on the mental or emotional levels, these being the common focus of self-identification in modern man. On the one hand the intuitive and spiritual levels are blanked off from conscious awareness and acceptance, and on the other hand the emotional and mental mechanisms may be used as defense mechanisms against possible painful experience, instead of as organs for the assimilation of life experience. Life is rarely painful if its conditions can be accepted by the individual. Pain is the result of failing to adapt readily to new conditions.....

 

Lesson 2 - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie, Chapter 2

.....A candidate for initiation into the Masonic type of Mysteries stands between these Pillars for his contact with the powers of the Order into which he is accepted for training. This symbolises that during the course of his training, and, indeed, throughout the whole of his life, his task is to balance the opposing forces in his own nature. Remember, these forces are neither good nor evil - in broad terms it is their equilibrium that is good, their unbalance that results in evil. (That is, as far as the normal candidate is concerned; deliberate balanced evil is another matter.)....

 

Lesson 3 - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie, Chapter 3

.....The same principles apply with regard to the subtler forces. If the solidity and strength of our physical bodies is the result of the kinetic force of the molecules which compose the cells of which those bodies are made, then in a similar way the vibrancy and strength of our subtler bodies depends upon the vital circulatory motion of even subtler energies. Thus the prime use of the exercises of this Lesson is the strengthening of the aura by the circulation of force....

 

Lesson 4 - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie, Chapter 4

.....Symbolically, it can be aligned with Kether, but great care must be taken in aligning the Four Worlds with the Sephiroth, for the Worlds are present in all the Sephiroth. In other words, Malkuth is as truly spiritual as Kether, and has its place in Atziluth, the Archetypal World. Equally, Kether is not a remote far-off state, divorced from physical existence; it also has its place in Malkuth.....

 

Lesson 5 - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie, Chapter 5

.....In this lesson we continue learning the elementary alphabet of the Mysteries. In the textbook, Dr. Regardie, for the sake of simplicity, has given the various principles of life an astrological classification and has used a simplified form of colour symbolism. From our studies, it should be obvious that the real classification is that of the Four Worlds of the Qabalists and the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life.....

 

Lesson 6 - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie, Chapter 6

.....The followers of such movements concentrate their efforts and attention upon the physical world, which is why they often get results that are far from apparent in idealistic circles. Observation will show that few Christian Science churches are struggling for money, as many small occult groups may be. Of particular interest is the paper "The Christian Science Monitor,” which started life as an organ for a relatively small sect and has become a great newspaper with an international reputation. Whether this was intended in the first place is another matter, but it does show the potentialities of the forces available, if, by some means or other they are tapped.....

 

Lesson 7 - Course Notes

.....In this matter of foundations we must be careful to include only those stones and materials which have been tested and tried in practical use. Here we come up against the old - and false - antithesis between theory and practice. In the realms of didactic teaching, there may be, and often is, a considerable difference between precept and practice, that in the realms of science does not exist between theory and practice, unless the theory does not fit the ascertained facts. When this happens, the scientist adjusts the theory to the facts. Indeed the work of the research scientist consists of the progressive alteration of hypotheses to cover the emergence of new facts.....

 

Lesson 8 - Course Notes

.....There are many schools of Yoga, but basically they are all variants of the three main systems of Raj Yoga, Gnani Yoga, and Bhakti Yoga. Over the years, the Yoga systems of India and their analogues in China and Japan have became highly organised and differentiated, but underlying them all is a constant tradition that they work under the aegis of a mysterious company of highly developed men. These men are known by various names - the Brothers, the Adepts, the Masters, the Mahatmas. This last name needs some explanation. "Maha" means "great" and "Atma" means "Spirit.” Hence, these men are "Great Spirits.” The term is often used in India for men of exceptional merit; thus Ghandi was known as Mahatma Gandhi. Indian occultists, however, only use the name to denote one of the Great Brotherhood of the Adepts.....

 

Lesson 9 - Course Notes

.....In the last Lesson, we said that we would deal with Mantra-Yoga, and also with the three main Yoga paths in this Lesson. It must be recognised that any such cursory study of these systems is indicative, not exhaustive. These systems, detailed and embracing an immense field of human experience in both the past and present, cannot be summed up in a few words - indeed, to do so would be unfair both to the systems and the enquirer. All we can do here - and it is sufficient for our purpose - is to give a general outline of them in order that our students may understand that the same paths are open to the Western occultist as those with which the Eastern student is familiar. "They of the Ganges and they of the Andes" have the same basic training.....

 

Lesson 10 - Course Notes

.....First, let us consider the Tree of Life as a symbol-system which may be used as a philosophic tool, whereby the mind may be able to deal with the intangible energies of the universe and so build up a philosophy of life - a philosophy which can stand up to all the attacks that may be launched against it. In all systems of philosophy there are certain ideas with which we start our research. Now these primary ideas are not capable of being "proved" by normal thought-processes. They must be either accepted or rejected. It is held in the Qabalistic philosophy that there are two aspects of what we may refer to as "God.” One aspect is the Manifest Intelligence and the other is the Unmanifest, from which the whole of Manifestation springs and in which it is contained. This is the prime dogma of the Qabalah - all else is contained in this.....

 

Lesson 11 - Course Notes

.....In the book of Genesis we are told that Esau is Edom, and again that Esau dwelled in Seir, and was the father of the Edomites. So we have Esau and Jacob as type figures, and just as Esau was the King of Edom, so also was Jacob the Father of Israel. So Israel and Edom stand over against each other, the one being the manifest universe which embodies this cosmic principle of Balance, and the other a prior universe which was destroyed by its own unbalanced force. For "countenance beheld not countenance.” The Sephirah also known as the Vast Countenance or Macroprosopos, is KETHER. The Lesser Countenance or Microprosopos, also known as the Son, emerges from the Sephiroth CHOKMAH and BINAH, otherwise called AB, the Father and AMA, the Mother. These emanate six others which form Microprosopos, and from the last of these six - YESOD - emanates MALKUTH, the Kingdom. This Kingdom is also called the "Inferior Mother,” the Bride and Queen of Microprosopos. So we have these Countenances, but before they were all conformed, there was no equilibrium, for this is the harmony resulting from the balance of opposites, the fulcrum of the beam, as it were, where, the opposing forces or natures being equal in strength, stability devoid of motion is found. For in each of the triads of the Sephiroth two opposite natures are manifested, while the third forms their equilibrium.....

 

Lesson 12 - A Tree in each Sephirah

.....In the Mystery Lodges, as in the Masonic Lodges, the Two Pillars are to be found in the shape of two actual Pillars, one black and the other white or silver, but only in the esoteric Lodges is the Middle Pillar referred to directly. We may speak of the Right-hand Pillar as the Pillar of Force, the Left-hand Pillar as the Pillar of Form, and the Middle Pillar as the Pillar of Consciousness.....

 

Lesson 13 - At the Round Table

.....It would, of course, be very nice if we could say to you "Now, brethren, we will enable you to use the occult powers immediately. After this Lesson you will be able to call them into action at any time.” Unfortunately, although in the outer world it is becoming a commonplace to see advertisements for "instant coffee,” "instant tea,” and other things of the same order, it is not yet possible to produce an Adept overnight. It is possible to produce what is, for all practical purposes, "instant psychism,” but this can only be through the use of certain drugs, combined with other practices which we of this School do not consider to be in line with the Divine Will. However, even if we thought otherwise, and used these methods to arouse your innate psychism, it might well be that you would not thank us when the endresults of the operation became evident. For remember, if you were suddenly pitchforked into the swirling billows of the Astral Light, you might well be overcome and damaged mentally by your unseasonable entry therein. As a matter of fact, there are types of mental derangement which are due to this very thing - unwise entry into the Astral Light. Such people are as "one born out of due time"; they are premature entrants into that realm of nature, and are not properly adjusted to their new environment.....

 

Lesson 14 - The Rules of the Table

.....The process of building up the Round Table is what is referred to in the magical writings as "The Preparation of the Place of Working,” or, to use another name for it, the "Composition of Place.” Those of you who may be familiar with that wonderful series of exercises known as "The Spiritual Exercises" compiled and used by St Ignatius Loyola will recognise this name, for it is used by him. Incidentally, Loyola was the founder of "The Society of Jesus" and it is to these exercises that the Jesuits owe their remarkable abilities. As a method of mind-training, these exercises are extraordinarily efficient, and though we need not assent to the theological ideas of St Ignatius, we may very profitably follow his system. Indeed it is not peculiar to him - it was in use over two thousand years ago in the Egyptian schools of Initiation - and has been employed in Western occultism for a still longer period. In the East, also, variants of this training have been in use for thousands of years. It would seem, therefore, that the method has been found to be effective. It uses two of the most effective methods known to esoteric teachers – Image-building and Commemoration.....

 

Lesson 15 - The Brotherhood of the Table Round

.....It may be helpful if we briefly recapitulate the instructions you were given in the last two Lessons. Remember, one can have a great deal of repetition without any waste of time, for repetition is one of the laws of mental association. Perhaps it is significant that those Students who object to using this law - usually justifying themselves by claiming that, for them, it is a waste of time - are very often those who, at a later date, fall by the way because they have not gained the necessary control over their mental processes. In any case, whether Students like it or dislike it, there will be a good deal of repetition in the lessons of this Course. However, it will not be repetition for repetition's sake, neither will it be employed to the detriment of other mental approaches.....

 

Lesson 16 - Concerning Communication

.....There are also two different directions by which we may approach the Tree. We can start our meditations by considering the first Sephirah of the Tree, and then working down until we reach the last Sephirah, Malkuth. Or we may start with Malkuth, since it is the only plane of life with which most of us have any direct contact, and from Malkuth we may work back until we reach the Sephirah Kether at the head of the Tree.....

 

Lesson 17 - The Veils and the Crown

.....Something of the same order also obtains in the field of modern medicine. Specialisation has become the order of the day, and the specialist tends to narrow down his mental vision to his own speciality. This, of course, is quite in order from one point of view, but it often results in mistaken diagnosis. At least that is what we were told by a medical friend. Someone once defined a specialist as "A man who knows more and more about less and less.” We fancy this would be a fair description of many specialists.....

 

Lesson 18 - The Crown

.....In some forms of plastic art, there is used what is known as an "armature.” It consists of a framework of wire upon which the mass of soft clay is placed. The armature acts as a stiffening whilst the clay is being manipulated into shape, and holds that shape in position until it is fixed by hardening. In a similar way, the instruction given in Chapter VI of the "Guide,” as well as the similar information you will find in Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah - if you possess a copy of this work - is designed to act as the intellectual "armature" upon which you may mould your own mental forms.....

 

Lesson 19 - The Fool

.....Since the Sephiroth (excluding Daath) are ten in number, the first of the numbered Paths - the one which starts in Kether and proceeds to Chokmah - takes the number 11. There are also certain symbolic pictures which are associated with all the Thirty-Two Paths, and these are, as you are aware, the pictures of the Tarot Pack of Cards. The Sephiroth represent the points where the Artist projects His power in His universe, whilst the intermediate Paths represent His modes of consciousness during these various projections. They are, as it were, the Divine Imaginings as He contemplates His Manifestation. Since the Hermetic axiom "As Above, so Below" holds good in this field, then in the subjective Tree which is within each of one of us, these Paths represent the same Cosmic power-projections and modes of consciousness. The Paths between the Sephiroth in our subjective Tree represent the workings of our own inner consciousness. As you know, man is described as the microcosm within the macrocosm - the little universe within the greater universe - and every power and energy of the outer universe is to be found in the soul of man. As one of the rituals very truly says, "There is no part of me which is not part of the Gods.”.....

 

Lesson 20 - Chockmah - the Power-House

.....You will also remember that at the end of the bar we perceived that the outrushing energy began to swirl round into a great sphere of light, and to that Sphere was given the name "CHOKMAH.” In this Lesson we are going to consider this Sephirah in some detail, but from a slightly different angle from that usually taken.....

 

Lesson 21 - The Empress

.....We have given this extra symbolism since it links up with what we shall be saying about the Path of which the Empress is the symbol. Under what circumstances her pregnancy came about, and who is the father responsible, is at present not revealed to us. For this we must wait until we come to the Sephirah, Binah, when we shall receive enlightenment. Now this Path which is attributed to the Hebrew letter Daleth, forms the next part of the Lightning Flash, and we may understand who the Empress is if we recall the androgyne nature of the Cosmic Artist. The Empress is the Artist in His feminine aspect, and here she foreshadows the activities which will be objectively expressed in the Sephirah Binah. All the possibilities of Form are implicit in her, and in the form-making Sephirah Binah, these possibilities will become actualities.....

 

Lesson 22 - Binah

.....Kether, therefore, instead of being a point within the circle of manifestation, extends over the whole expanse thereof. Likewise, Chokmah, Binah, and the other Sephiroth extend throughout manifestation in the same way. It follows, therefore, that we may contact every Sephirah at any point in the universe. So far, we have considered Kether and Chokmah. Now we come to Binah, and we have to realise that the "Binah vibration,” if we may use this expression, fills and is active throughout the manifested universe.....

 

Lesson 23 - From Binah to Chesed

.....It may help if you remember that we are considering the descent of the Divine Life into manifestation, and this is in many ways analogous to the descent of the human spirit into physical manifestation. This is the involuntary arc - the involvement of the spirit with matter in all its phases - and all the forces concerned are being expressed in the building into all forms on all the planes of all the potentialities of the Spirit. We may think of this as being the preparation of a body through which the Divine Artist may work, or, continuing our former analogy, we may think of it as the self-expression of that creative Being.....

 

Lesson 24 - Chesed

.....We have printed these last few words in capitals for a very definite reason. In the relevant chapter of the Practical Guide which you are using in this Lesson, there is a long dissertation on those great beings whom we refer to as the "Masters,” and much is said there which may conflict with what you may already have read or heard concerning them. If you have been taught along certain lines, it may well be that what is said by Gareth Knight may distress you. It need not, for it is simply the other side of the coin. Far too much false mystery and sentimentality has been woven around the whole concept of the Masters, and such false mystery and foolishness has been engineered by those who should have known better. Such false claims have no part in true esoteric teaching and practice. The reality is always greater than any description can be, and the Masters shine forth in true spiritual majesty radiant in light, far above the cloying and misleading vapours cast around them by foolish and sentimental worshippers.....

 

Lesson 25 - Geburah

.....As we are considering Geburah from the point of view of the Fool who is involving himself in the universe, we now ink in the penciled line which joins Chesed to Geburah, and picture ourselves - in the person of the Fool - gazing at the flaming orange-hued Sphere of Light which is the representation of this Power at the Atziluthic level. Remember always, that we are dealing solely with the Atziluthic World or Level throughout all the Lessons of this Course. When you have completed the Course, you can continue to learn from it by going through all the steps of the Fool as they will be shown to you in the Atziluthic level again, but this time using the colours and attributes of the World of Briah. Again, when this has been done, you may work in the Yetziratic levels in the same way, and finally may work down the Tree in the World of Assiah. There will be no lack of something to do!.....

 

Lesson 26 - From Binah to Geburah

.....In our study of the involvement of the Fool in that Body of manifestation which we know as the material universe, we have been following the "Path of the Lightning Flash,” and we have had to go back every now and then to deal with those Paths on the Tree which we perforce had to ignore when we were dealing with the Sephirah from which they proceed, since they themselves were not on the Path of the Lightning Flash. You will remember that we have done this in the light of what we had learnt in our work on the Lightning Flash. Now we have to consider that Path which emanates from the Sephirah Binah and links that Sephirah with Geburah. The Tarot Card which symbolises this Path is The Charioteer, and the general information required for this Lesson is to be found in the Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism pages 173 - 178.....

 

Lesson 27 - From Geburah to Tiphareth

.....The relevant material for this Lesson is to be found in the Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Part II, pages 110 - 121. You should read this chapter carefully before going any further with this Lesson. Having done this, you are then ready to consider other aspects of this Path. You will remember that in our last Lesson, we discussed the question of Will. Geburah is the seat of Will, and we should expect that this Path between Geburah and Tiphareth would be strongly tinged by the effects of Geburah. This is actually the case. Here we come up against the usual false ideas as to the nature of the will. With some of these we have already dealt, but it will be as well if we consider some other erroneous ideas which have gathered around the idea of "will.”.....

 

Lesson 28 - The Ways of Tiphareth

.....You are asked to study all these Paths as described in the Practical Guide, so that you will have the general background in your mind. For in this Lesson, we are going to test your developing powers of concentration by dealing with more than one Path at a time. We want you to develop the power of synthesising thought, that power which enables a thinker to hold several concepts in the mind at the same time, and, to work out the general result of their combined action. This is something analogous to the mental achievement of a skilled chess player, who can visualise in great detail what will be the result of any one move on either his or his opponent's side.....

 

Lesson 29 - The Station of the Sun, Part One

.....Before we deal with this Sephirah, we want to remind you that during the whole of this conducted journey from the Veils of Kether right down to the Station of the Sun (which is the Sephirah Tiphareth), you have been keyed, through the colour scheme used, onto the Atziluthic level or "World.” That is, you have been considering this involutionary work as it has been carried out on the level of manifestation which is the farthest removed from the physical world. You have yet to trace this whole journey on each of the three other levels - the Worlds of Briah, Yetzirah and Assiah, if you would have a properly balanced understanding of the whole involutionary process. Remember, however, that although we think of these levels in terms of their own manifestation, yet they are outside of time and space as far as the first three levels are concerned. Only with the development of the last "Assiatic World" can we begin to think in terms of time and space as we know them.....

 

Lesson 30 - The Station of the Sun, Part Two

.....So many people think that in these matters it is a question of "this or that" whenever certain teachings are being considered. This is wrong thinking, and is responsible for much of the bitterness which exists between the followers of the various Faiths of mankind. Far more often, it is "this and that,” and the resolution of the pairs of opposites, though admittedly somewhat difficult for the untrained mind, does in the end bring not only new understanding, but releases power for our use. It is for this reason that we do not at any time tell you that you must agree with, or even believe what we tell you, until in your own mind it seems to you to be the correct working hypothesis.....

 

Lesson 31 - From Tiphareth to Netzach

.....We have now to follow the journey of the fool from the Sephirah Tiphareth down the 24th Path of the Tree of Life - the Path of Nun. In order to do this, we must first consider something of this Path and the ideas which are associated with it. The main outlines are to be found in Gareth Knight's Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Vol II, pages 89 - 101. Those of you who possess Case's book, The Tarot, may find some interesting ideas put forward therein, in Chapter XVI, pages 139 - 144. Some of these we shall be discussing here.....

 

Lesson 32 - Netzach

.....As you will have seen from your study of this Sephirah, it is in a very real way a Sephirah of balance - balance always presuming the existence of the Pairs of Complementaries. Force and Form are here in harmonised balance, but the tendency of Netzach is to overthrow that balance in favour of the Force side of manifestation, rather than in favour of the Form side. A simple illustration may help here. If you look-at the sea when the waves are high, you will perceive that separate waves appear to almost become independent of the great mass of the waters. Nevertheless, it can be seen that these semiindependent waves are rooted in and part of the great mass of the sea. So in Netzach, forms appear and disappear, many of them apparently individual and separate, but in actuality this separateness is a temporary illusion.....

 

Lesson 33 - The Fool on the Paths of Jupiter and Mars

.....You will remember that the Sephirah Chesed is on that section of the Tree which the Fool traverses before coming into the Personality conditions of Netzach, and this Path, therefore, carried a certain grade of force from the Individuality aspect of the Fool. For remember that, as the Fool involves himself, under cyclic law, in manifestation, he follows the same plan that each Spirit Spark does in its descent into manifestation in and through the Personality which it begins to buildup for itself in Netzach and the so-called "lower" sephiroth of Hod, Yesod, and Malkuth. So this is a Path of Cyclic Law, as is shown by the Wheel on the Tarot Card, and it is this cyclic influence emanating from Chesed which determines the conditions under which the Personality which is being built will have to work. This applies equally, as we have said, to both the Fool and to every one of the Spirit Sparks which use this scheme of manifestation as the means of their development.....

 

Lesson 34 - The Fool on the Paths of Water and the Sun

.....The Fool in his aeonian journey has now come to the "personal levels" of manifestation, and has entered the sphere which is associated with the mind. Here the Divine influx of creative power has already reached this Sephirah through the Path of Water, which is governed by the Hebrew letter Mem. As you will see from the textbooks, this Path is attributed to the Element of Water, as is also the Sephirah into which it feeds. As both Case and Knight emphasise, one aspect of the Sephirah is a Water aspect. Now, as they say, water is the first mirror, the first reflector of images. Knight very correctly stresses that the images discerned in Hod are intellectual images, rather than the psychic images which are native to the next Sephirah, Yesod. It is important to realise that this reflection of images which takes place in all three Sephiroth - Tiphareth, Yesod, and Hod - is one of the vital strands in the makeup of the personality, whether we are considering the Personality of the Fool, or our own mundane personality.....

 

Lesson 35 - The Fool in the Treasure-House of Images

.....The Fool now stands in the Treasure-House of Images. What do we mean by that? You will remember that this new manifestation - this new universe - is not entirely new, for the past experiences of the Fool are impressed upon its very nature, since He has caused His life and consciousness to flow through it. He carries, you will remember, a Wallet, which contains His memories of the Past. These memories, like our own, are derived from His own subconscious and superconscious being. As the Magician, He set forth upon His aeonian journey in the establishment of this new universe - this new field of manifestation, and this is the conscious aspect of His Thought. Then, as He descended further and further into manifestation, His subconscious memories became established as the underlying stresses which cause manifestation to take upon itself shape and form, and the substance of the universe became in very truth His Body of manifestation.....

 

Lesson 36 - The Fool Takes the Last Step

.....The Fool has now come to the last stage of His involvement in Manifestation, and is preparing to enter the dark 32nd Path of the Tree of Life. It is therefore necessary that you acquaint yourselves with the teaching which is concerned with this Path. The relevant details are given in Gareth Knight's Practical Guide, Chapter 1, page 1 of Vol. II. Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah gives, in the chapters dealing with Yesod and Malkuth, considerable light upon the Path which unites them, and in Dr. Paul Case's The Tarot, Chapter XXV, the Path is considered from the standpoint of the Tarot Card "The World,” which is attributed to it. From all these sources you should be able to get a good deal of material for your understanding of this very important Path.....

 

Lesson 37 - The Fool in Malkuth

.....The relevant data concerning Malkuth will be found in Gareth Knight's Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, pages 189 - 203, and also, for those of you who possess it, Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah, Chapter XXV, pages 265 - 296. As this Sephirah is so very important, we suggest that you very carefully study and meditate upon the information which is given you in the above-mentioned books. It is of the very essence of the true Qabalistic teaching that this Sephirah is the level which is really of the greatest importance to us.....

Lesson 38 - The Universe of the Dancer

.....Incidentally, by the term "study" we don't mean a purely conscious consideration of what is therein written - a purely intellectual evaluation - but rather a quiet brooding over the general sense of the chapter. Use your visual imagination and "see" in your mind's eye the scenes and images which are described, "hear" in your auditory imagination the instructions as written and attempt to "feel" the atmosphere which the words and images suggest. You will perceive that there is much more to this than simply gaining certain intellectual knowledge from reading the chapter. Incidentally this does not absolve the Student from doing his best to understand what is being taught, but it does mean that intellectual comprehension is only part of the task. There must also be an "entering-in" to the emotional and physical aspects of all manifest life.....

 

Lesson 39 - Course Notes

.....In the last few Lessons you have been told that the Castle of the Round Table - apart from its symbolic meanings - was, as you had built it by your visualising work, a remote-control device, by means of which you would be able to set in motion certain occult forces in your own body, and these forces would bring about the beginnings of supernormal awareness. This, of course, was not the only power which these forces would give you, but it is one of very great importance. Many of you will, by the time you read this, have found the beginnings of such supernormal consciousness to be showing themselves, and those who have not yet experienced this will probably find that this unfoldment will soon become evident. Of course, there will be those of you who do not, apparently develop anything of this nature, but even so, you will have found that the Lessons and exercises have brought through great changes in your outlook on life. Others again, have fallen by the wayside, but even though they lacked the perseverance of their fellow-students, they will have been affected - each to his degree - by the forces which began to work through them.....

 

Lesson 40 - Symbols and Symbol-Systems

.....These various definitions may seem to be somewhat confusing but we have included them all as they are each a facet, as it were, of the true meaning of the word "symbol.” If we take the word "image" as a means of describing the nature of a symbol, we have to be careful to realise that although we usually think of an image as something perceived by the eye, there are "images" relating to all the five physical senses. Indeed the esoteric worker also includes in this category the images derived from the superphysical planes. So we have visual images, auditory images, tactile images, odoriferous images and gustatory images - these latter being the result of the activity of the taste-buds of the palate. Thus, each sense forwards to the central brain a complex of impressions which have been received in its own particular way. Incidentally, it does occasionally happen that, due to certain illness or because of some psychological "crossing of the lines" the images of one sense are transposed into the images of another sense. Thus it has been known for people to see sounds and hear colours.....

 

Lesson 41 - Image Building

.....Here we come to one of the most important points in this training - one that must be borne in mind when one is commencing to train the mind along these lines. The mind is a creature of habit, and does not like to be trained. In the words of certain Yoga instructions, it is like a monkey chained to a tree. It will not keep still, but wanders restlessly from one point to another. Not only does it rebel against any attempt to control it by persisting in this restless movement, but it also attempts - often very successfully in the early stages of training - to force its owner to stop trying to attempt such training. This reaction may vary from a simple forgetting to do the exercise to a very real experience of headache, palpitation and general malaise. The mind judges, and usually quite correctly, that any adverse physical symptoms will alarm its owner, and so cause him to abandon the training.....

 

Lesson 42 - A General Survey

.....As we come to the last ten Lessons, it may be as well if we stop awhile to take a general survey of what has already been given in this Course. When this course was commenced, the aim we set before us was to give Qabalistic teaching in such a way that the Students would be able to make of the Qabalistic philosophy and technique a working tool in their own lives. Above all, we wished to encourage our Students to experiment for themselves with the technique, for we hold that much of the portentous warning given in so many occult writings was due to an unwise repetition of quite genuine but rather rare experiences. That there are dangers in esoteric practice is true enough, but so there are in anything in life - life itself is dangerous - but that does not prevent us doing our best to live. Daily life in a big city can be quite a dangerous thing when one considers the volume of traffic and the existence of reckless drivers. As a matter of actual fact - as distinct from the well-worn stories which are passed round in esoteric circles, and which appear to be like those told by the Fat Boy, intended to "make yer flesh creep" - there is very little evidence that the practice of the esoteric techniques results in the dangers attributed to it.....

 

Lesson 43 - The Magical Personality

.....Those of you who have read my book The Magician, His Training and Work will have noticed the Chapter headed "The Magical Personality.” This Lesson considers this particular aspect of training from another angle. Although I have received many letters dealing with different points in the book, very few people indeed seem to have realised the importance of this particular technique. Perhaps this is because of the way in which it was presented, for one may be fairly sure that if one particular part of a teaching is apparently ignored by the questing mind of the Student, it is because of some fault in the way in which it was presented to him. This matter of "communication" has always been subject to difficulty, and in these times we are seeing how such a partial or even total breakdown of communication between various social and other groups gives rise to very serious problems.....

 

Lesson 44 - Codes and Communications

....When our Students reread the Lessons they have received (as we trust they do), they will see that the instruction given them has been along several different lines, and has been given in what may seem to be a somewhat random way. Those of our Students who are accustomed to the ordinary scholastic methods may well have wondered why this instruction was given in this way, for surely it would have been much better to use the normal teaching routine. There is substance in this, but it fails to take into account the nature of esoteric teaching and training. Also, it does not take cognisance of the complexity of the human psyche. For these reasons - amongst others - it cannot be recognised as a serious criticism of the occult methods of instruction.....

 

Lesson 45 - The Basic Principles of Pathworking

.....There is, however, another and more important reason why it is necessary to clear away some of the misunderstandings which have gathered around it. There are certain basic principles used in Pathworking, and it is the principles which are more important than all else. Given the principles, the practice can be built up in various ways and still be effective, but without a clear grasp of the laws underlying it, Pathworking can degenerate into a superstitious and mostly futile esoteric practice. Some, who teach such superstitious observances, excuse themselves by saying that it is not possible to explain the real nature of the work, and therefore the student should simply follow instructions without in any way querying them. Now this we hold to be totally out of line with what we have learnt of the Mysteries of Light. For us, at least, it is necessary that we should know the principles behind the practice if we are to work effectively with them.....

 

Lesson 46 - Concerning Autoscopes

.....Quite recently we received a letter from one who was interested in the teachings of the Qabalah, and in this letter the writer stressed his conviction that, "the philosophy of the Qabalah, as usually presented, is arid and sterile, having little or no relation to the practical things of daily life.” That this could be said by an earnest student of esoteric matters should make those who are concerned with giving out such teachings carefully consider the methods which they are using. Although we yield to no one in our admiration of those wise Masters of the Hidden Wisdom who in the past revealed to their pupils some of the mysteries of the Light, we also know that much which was then given out in good faith, and which - at that time - was good and helpful, has now become, through the passing of time, obscure and often misleading. If this is true of the teachings of the great teachers, how much the more is it true of the teachings their pupils have given out. For all men are liable to error, and even a truthful teaching may become misleading through being misinterpreted. Also, methods of teaching, methods of development, methods of presentation may all become relatively evil when they are used to teach, develop, or present these things at the present time. Not that the principles which were behind the teachings can ever be outdated - they are the immutable laws underlying all esoteric work - but the forms in which those teachings are given may well obscure and even distort the truth therein contained.....

 

Lesson 47 - The Hidden Depths

.....We have also returned to this basic statement because of its importance, and also because it is a truth which tends to be forgotten. "Get to know yourself" is the most important thing you can undertake, for only in this way can you begin to understand and know others in any real sense. And as you begin to become acquainted with yourself - in the depths as well as in the heights - so you find that your position in the universe is something which is very different from the ordinary idea of what that position is. You find that there are two apparently conflicting truths concerning your relationship with the universe.....

 

Lesson 48 - Some Implications of the Course

.....Let us take the word "education" first. Now we normally think of education in terms of filling an empty vessel - here is an empty mind, so we will pour into it certain ideas and make certain that these ideas are retained more or less in the form in which they are given. This, at all events, was an idea of education which persisted up to a few years ago amongst the general public. However, the best teachers have always regarded education in a very different way, and this is now being more and more acknowledged as far the better way of dealing with what has - erroneously - been called the "virgin mind" of the child. We have said that this is an erroneous idea of the child mind, and this is so, for, as Oliver Wendell Holmes says somewhere in his writings, "When we are born, our mind is not a blank sheet - a 'tabula rasa', but is indeed a 'palimpsest.'".....

 

Lesson 49 - A Choice of Ways

.....As a matter of fact, this has already been demonstrated by some students who, even before the end of the Course, have found such faculties and powers becoming increasingly active. Of course, there are others who have plodded steadily through the Lessons, but have apparently not developed any such faculties or powers. However, even in these cases, much has been done in the inner selves of such Students which will bear fruit in due season, and we would ask them to consider the "Ways" indicated in this lesson, for it may well be that in working in one of them, they suddenly find that the inner powers have begun to work. Not all develop at the same rate, and it may well be that they are what, in educational circles are known as "late developers." In the world of education, such late starters have sometimes achieved considerable success, a notable case being that of Winston Churchill.....

 

Lesson 50 - Fresh Woods and Patures New

.....Now, at this final stage of the Course, we feel that it may be appropriate if we tell you something of the background of conditions from which the Course was born. That same background is still the conditioning basis of all our work in this field. Throughout these lessons you have been told that they are based upon the teachings and practice of what we have referred to as the "Western Esoteric Tradition." Some of you may have read the books of Dion Fortune, Dr Regardie, and others who claimed to belong to this Western Tradition, so you have a fairly comprehensive understanding of what this term means. Others perhaps, have only a vague idea - possibly only that which may be gathered from the pages of the lessons of this Course. Let us then, outline for you what this Western Tradition is, and how it works.....

Introduction and Workbook - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie

.....Within every man and woman is a force which directs and controls the entire course of life. Properly used, it can heal every affliction and ailment to which mankind is heir. Every single religion affirms this fact. All forms of mental or spiritual healing, no matter under what name they travel, promise the same thing. Even psychoanalysis employs this power, though indirectly, using the now popular word libido. For the critical insight and understanding which it brings to bear upon the psyche releases tensions of various kinds, and through this release the healing power latent within and natural to the human system operates more freely. Each of these systems undertakes to teach its devotees technical methods of thinking or contemplation or prayer such as will, according to the a priori terms of their philosophies, renew their bodies and transform their whole environment. None, or few of them, however, actually fulfil in a complete way the high promise made at the outset. There seems but little understanding of the practical means where the spiritual forces underlying the universe and permeating the entire nature of man may by utilized and directed towards the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. Naturally, without universal cooperation, such an ideal is impossible for all mankind. Nevertheless, each one for himself may commence the task of reconstruction..... 

 

Lesson 1 - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie, Chapter 1

.....Things go wrong in the first instance usually on the mental or emotional levels, these being the common focus of self-identification in modern man. On the one hand the intuitive and spiritual levels are blanked off from conscious awareness and acceptance, and on the other hand the emotional and mental mechanisms may be used as defense mechanisms against possible painful experience, instead of as organs for the assimilation of life experience. Life is rarely painful if its conditions can be accepted by the individual. Pain is the result of failing to adapt readily to new conditions.....

 

Lesson 2 - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie, Chapter 2

.....A candidate for initiation into the Masonic type of Mysteries stands between these Pillars for his contact with the powers of the Order into which he is accepted for training. This symbolises that during the course of his training, and, indeed, throughout the whole of his life, his task is to balance the opposing forces in his own nature. Remember, these forces are neither good nor evil - in broad terms it is their equilibrium that is good, their unbalance that results in evil. (That is, as far as the normal candidate is concerned; deliberate balanced evil is another matter.)....

 

Lesson 3 - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie, Chapter 3

.....The same principles apply with regard to the subtler forces. If the solidity and strength of our physical bodies is the result of the kinetic force of the molecules which compose the cells of which those bodies are made, then in a similar way the vibrancy and strength of our subtler bodies depends upon the vital circulatory motion of even subtler energies. Thus the prime use of the exercises of this Lesson is the strengthening of the aura by the circulation of force....

 

Lesson 4 - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie, Chapter 4

.....Symbolically, it can be aligned with Kether, but great care must be taken in aligning the Four Worlds with the Sephiroth, for the Worlds are present in all the Sephiroth. In other words, Malkuth is as truly spiritual as Kether, and has its place in Atziluth, the Archetypal World. Equally, Kether is not a remote far-off state, divorced from physical existence; it also has its place in Malkuth.....

 

Lesson 5 - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie, Chapter 5

.....In this lesson we continue learning the elementary alphabet of the Mysteries. In the textbook, Dr. Regardie, for the sake of simplicity, has given the various principles of life an astrological classification and has used a simplified form of colour symbolism. From our studies, it should be obvious that the real classification is that of the Four Worlds of the Qabalists and the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life.....

 

Lesson 6 - The Art of True Healing, by Regardie, Chapter 6

.....The followers of such movements concentrate their efforts and attention upon the physical world, which is why they often get results that are far from apparent in idealistic circles. Observation will show that few Christian Science churches are struggling for money, as many small occult groups may be. Of particular interest is the paper "The Christian Science Monitor,” which started life as an organ for a relatively small sect and has become a great newspaper with an international reputation. Whether this was intended in the first place is another matter, but it does show the potentialities of the forces available, if, by some means or other they are tapped.....

 

Lesson 7 - Course Notes

.....In this matter of foundations we must be careful to include only those stones and materials which have been tested and tried in practical use. Here we come up against the old - and false - antithesis between theory and practice. In the realms of didactic teaching, there may be, and often is, a considerable difference between precept and practice, that in the realms of science does not exist between theory and practice, unless the theory does not fit the ascertained facts. When this happens, the scientist adjusts the theory to the facts. Indeed the work of the research scientist consists of the progressive alteration of hypotheses to cover the emergence of new facts.....

 

Lesson 8 - Course Notes

.....There are many schools of Yoga, but basically they are all variants of the three main systems of Raj Yoga, Gnani Yoga, and Bhakti Yoga. Over the years, the Yoga systems of India and their analogues in China and Japan have became highly organised and differentiated, but underlying them all is a constant tradition that they work under the aegis of a mysterious company of highly developed men. These men are known by various names - the Brothers, the Adepts, the Masters, the Mahatmas. This last name needs some explanation. "Maha" means "great" and "Atma" means "Spirit.” Hence, these men are "Great Spirits.” The term is often used in India for men of exceptional merit; thus Ghandi was known as Mahatma Gandhi. Indian occultists, however, only use the name to denote one of the Great Brotherhood of the Adepts.....

 

Lesson 9 - Course Notes

.....In the last Lesson, we said that we would deal with Mantra-Yoga, and also with the three main Yoga paths in this Lesson. It must be recognised that any such cursory study of these systems is indicative, not exhaustive. These systems, detailed and embracing an immense field of human experience in both the past and present, cannot be summed up in a few words - indeed, to do so would be unfair both to the systems and the enquirer. All we can do here - and it is sufficient for our purpose - is to give a general outline of them in order that our students may understand that the same paths are open to the Western occultist as those with which the Eastern student is familiar. "They of the Ganges and they of the Andes" have the same basic training.....

 

Lesson 10 - Course Notes

.....First, let us consider the Tree of Life as a symbol-system which may be used as a philosophic tool, whereby the mind may be able to deal with the intangible energies of the universe and so build up a philosophy of life - a philosophy which can stand up to all the attacks that may be launched against it. In all systems of philosophy there are certain ideas with which we start our research. Now these primary ideas are not capable of being "proved" by normal thought-processes. They must be either accepted or rejected. It is held in the Qabalistic philosophy that there are two aspects of what we may refer to as "God.” One aspect is the Manifest Intelligence and the other is the Unmanifest, from which the whole of Manifestation springs and in which it is contained. This is the prime dogma of the Qabalah - all else is contained in this.....

 

Lesson 11 - Course Notes

.....In the book of Genesis we are told that Esau is Edom, and again that Esau dwelled in Seir, and was the father of the Edomites. So we have Esau and Jacob as type figures, and just as Esau was the King of Edom, so also was Jacob the Father of Israel. So Israel and Edom stand over against each other, the one being the manifest universe which embodies this cosmic principle of Balance, and the other a prior universe which was destroyed by its own unbalanced force. For "countenance beheld not countenance.” The Sephirah also known as the Vast Countenance or Macroprosopos, is KETHER. The Lesser Countenance or Microprosopos, also known as the Son, emerges from the Sephiroth CHOKMAH and BINAH, otherwise called AB, the Father and AMA, the Mother. These emanate six others which form Microprosopos, and from the last of these six - YESOD - emanates MALKUTH, the Kingdom. This Kingdom is also called the "Inferior Mother,” the Bride and Queen of Microprosopos. So we have these Countenances, but before they were all conformed, there was no equilibrium, for this is the harmony resulting from the balance of opposites, the fulcrum of the beam, as it were, where, the opposing forces or natures being equal in strength, stability devoid of motion is found. For in each of the triads of the Sephiroth two opposite natures are manifested, while the third forms their equilibrium.....

 

Lesson 12 - A Tree in each Sephirah

.....In the Mystery Lodges, as in the Masonic Lodges, the Two Pillars are to be found in the shape of two actual Pillars, one black and the other white or silver, but only in the esoteric Lodges is the Middle Pillar referred to directly. We may speak of the Right-hand Pillar as the Pillar of Force, the Left-hand Pillar as the Pillar of Form, and the Middle Pillar as the Pillar of Consciousness.....

 

Lesson 13 - At the Round Table

.....It would, of course, be very nice if we could say to you "Now, brethren, we will enable you to use the occult powers immediately. After this Lesson you will be able to call them into action at any time.” Unfortunately, although in the outer world it is becoming a commonplace to see advertisements for "instant coffee,” "instant tea,” and other things of the same order, it is not yet possible to produce an Adept overnight. It is possible to produce what is, for all practical purposes, "instant psychism,” but this can only be through the use of certain drugs, combined with other practices which we of this School do not consider to be in line with the Divine Will. However, even if we thought otherwise, and used these methods to arouse your innate psychism, it might well be that you would not thank us when the endresults of the operation became evident. For remember, if you were suddenly pitchforked into the swirling billows of the Astral Light, you might well be overcome and damaged mentally by your unseasonable entry therein. As a matter of fact, there are types of mental derangement which are due to this very thing - unwise entry into the Astral Light. Such people are as "one born out of due time"; they are premature entrants into that realm of nature, and are not properly adjusted to their new environment.....

 

Lesson 14 - The Rules of the Table

.....The process of building up the Round Table is what is referred to in the magical writings as "The Preparation of the Place of Working,” or, to use another name for it, the "Composition of Place.” Those of you who may be familiar with that wonderful series of exercises known as "The Spiritual Exercises" compiled and used by St Ignatius Loyola will recognise this name, for it is used by him. Incidentally, Loyola was the founder of "The Society of Jesus" and it is to these exercises that the Jesuits owe their remarkable abilities. As a method of mind-training, these exercises are extraordinarily efficient, and though we need not assent to the theological ideas of St Ignatius, we may very profitably follow his system. Indeed it is not peculiar to him - it was in use over two thousand years ago in the Egyptian schools of Initiation - and has been employed in Western occultism for a still longer period. In the East, also, variants of this training have been in use for thousands of years. It would seem, therefore, that the method has been found to be effective. It uses two of the most effective methods known to esoteric teachers – Image-building and Commemoration.....

 

Lesson 15 - The Brotherhood of the Table Round

.....It may be helpful if we briefly recapitulate the instructions you were given in the last two Lessons. Remember, one can have a great deal of repetition without any waste of time, for repetition is one of the laws of mental association. Perhaps it is significant that those Students who object to using this law - usually justifying themselves by claiming that, for them, it is a waste of time - are very often those who, at a later date, fall by the way because they have not gained the necessary control over their mental processes. In any case, whether Students like it or dislike it, there will be a good deal of repetition in the lessons of this Course. However, it will not be repetition for repetition's sake, neither will it be employed to the detriment of other mental approaches.....

 

Lesson 16 - Concerning Communication

.....There are also two different directions by which we may approach the Tree. We can start our meditations by considering the first Sephirah of the Tree, and then working down until we reach the last Sephirah, Malkuth. Or we may start with Malkuth, since it is the only plane of life with which most of us have any direct contact, and from Malkuth we may work back until we reach the Sephirah Kether at the head of the Tree.....

 

Lesson 17 - The Veils and the Crown

.....Something of the same order also obtains in the field of modern medicine. Specialisation has become the order of the day, and the specialist tends to narrow down his mental vision to his own speciality. This, of course, is quite in order from one point of view, but it often results in mistaken diagnosis. At least that is what we were told by a medical friend. Someone once defined a specialist as "A man who knows more and more about less and less.” We fancy this would be a fair description of many specialists.....

 

Lesson 18 - The Crown

.....In some forms of plastic art, there is used what is known as an "armature.” It consists of a framework of wire upon which the mass of soft clay is placed. The armature acts as a stiffening whilst the clay is being manipulated into shape, and holds that shape in position until it is fixed by hardening. In a similar way, the instruction given in Chapter VI of the "Guide,” as well as the similar information you will find in Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah - if you possess a copy of this work - is designed to act as the intellectual "armature" upon which you may mould your own mental forms.....

 

Lesson 19 - The Fool

.....Since the Sephiroth (excluding Daath) are ten in number, the first of the numbered Paths - the one which starts in Kether and proceeds to Chokmah - takes the number 11. There are also certain symbolic pictures which are associated with all the Thirty-Two Paths, and these are, as you are aware, the pictures of the Tarot Pack of Cards. The Sephiroth represent the points where the Artist projects His power in His universe, whilst the intermediate Paths represent His modes of consciousness during these various projections. They are, as it were, the Divine Imaginings as He contemplates His Manifestation. Since the Hermetic axiom "As Above, so Below" holds good in this field, then in the subjective Tree which is within each of one of us, these Paths represent the same Cosmic power-projections and modes of consciousness. The Paths between the Sephiroth in our subjective Tree represent the workings of our own inner consciousness. As you know, man is described as the microcosm within the macrocosm - the little universe within the greater universe - and every power and energy of the outer universe is to be found in the soul of man. As one of the rituals very truly says, "There is no part of me which is not part of the Gods.”.....

 

Lesson 20 - Chockmah - the Power-House

.....You will also remember that at the end of the bar we perceived that the outrushing energy began to swirl round into a great sphere of light, and to that Sphere was given the name "CHOKMAH.” In this Lesson we are going to consider this Sephirah in some detail, but from a slightly different angle from that usually taken.....

 

Lesson 21 - The Empress

.....We have given this extra symbolism since it links up with what we shall be saying about the Path of which the Empress is the symbol. Under what circumstances her pregnancy came about, and who is the father responsible, is at present not revealed to us. For this we must wait until we come to the Sephirah, Binah, when we shall receive enlightenment. Now this Path which is attributed to the Hebrew letter Daleth, forms the next part of the Lightning Flash, and we may understand who the Empress is if we recall the androgyne nature of the Cosmic Artist. The Empress is the Artist in His feminine aspect, and here she foreshadows the activities which will be objectively expressed in the Sephirah Binah. All the possibilities of Form are implicit in her, and in the form-making Sephirah Binah, these possibilities will become actualities.....

 

Lesson 22 - Binah

.....Kether, therefore, instead of being a point within the circle of manifestation, extends over the whole expanse thereof. Likewise, Chokmah, Binah, and the other Sephiroth extend throughout manifestation in the same way. It follows, therefore, that we may contact every Sephirah at any point in the universe. So far, we have considered Kether and Chokmah. Now we come to Binah, and we have to realise that the "Binah vibration,” if we may use this expression, fills and is active throughout the manifested universe.....

 

Lesson 23 - From Binah to Chesed

.....It may help if you remember that we are considering the descent of the Divine Life into manifestation, and this is in many ways analogous to the descent of the human spirit into physical manifestation. This is the involuntary arc - the involvement of the spirit with matter in all its phases - and all the forces concerned are being expressed in the building into all forms on all the planes of all the potentialities of the Spirit. We may think of this as being the preparation of a body through which the Divine Artist may work, or, continuing our former analogy, we may think of it as the self-expression of that creative Being.....

 

Lesson 24 - Chesed

.....We have printed these last few words in capitals for a very definite reason. In the relevant chapter of the Practical Guide which you are using in this Lesson, there is a long dissertation on those great beings whom we refer to as the "Masters,” and much is said there which may conflict with what you may already have read or heard concerning them. If you have been taught along certain lines, it may well be that what is said by Gareth Knight may distress you. It need not, for it is simply the other side of the coin. Far too much false mystery and sentimentality has been woven around the whole concept of the Masters, and such false mystery and foolishness has been engineered by those who should have known better. Such false claims have no part in true esoteric teaching and practice. The reality is always greater than any description can be, and the Masters shine forth in true spiritual majesty radiant in light, far above the cloying and misleading vapours cast around them by foolish and sentimental worshippers.....

 

Lesson 25 - Geburah

.....As we are considering Geburah from the point of view of the Fool who is involving himself in the universe, we now ink in the penciled line which joins Chesed to Geburah, and picture ourselves - in the person of the Fool - gazing at the flaming orange-hued Sphere of Light which is the representation of this Power at the Atziluthic level. Remember always, that we are dealing solely with the Atziluthic World or Level throughout all the Lessons of this Course. When you have completed the Course, you can continue to learn from it by going through all the steps of the Fool as they will be shown to you in the Atziluthic level again, but this time using the colours and attributes of the World of Briah. Again, when this has been done, you may work in the Yetziratic levels in the same way, and finally may work down the Tree in the World of Assiah. There will be no lack of something to do!.....

 

Lesson 26 - From Binah to Geburah

.....In our study of the involvement of the Fool in that Body of manifestation which we know as the material universe, we have been following the "Path of the Lightning Flash,” and we have had to go back every now and then to deal with those Paths on the Tree which we perforce had to ignore when we were dealing with the Sephirah from which they proceed, since they themselves were not on the Path of the Lightning Flash. You will remember that we have done this in the light of what we had learnt in our work on the Lightning Flash. Now we have to consider that Path which emanates from the Sephirah Binah and links that Sephirah with Geburah. The Tarot Card which symbolises this Path is The Charioteer, and the general information required for this Lesson is to be found in the Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism pages 173 - 178.....

 

Lesson 27 - From Geburah to Tiphareth

.....The relevant material for this Lesson is to be found in the Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Part II, pages 110 - 121. You should read this chapter carefully before going any further with this Lesson. Having done this, you are then ready to consider other aspects of this Path. You will remember that in our last Lesson, we discussed the question of Will. Geburah is the seat of Will, and we should expect that this Path between Geburah and Tiphareth would be strongly tinged by the effects of Geburah. This is actually the case. Here we come up against the usual false ideas as to the nature of the will. With some of these we have already dealt, but it will be as well if we consider some other erroneous ideas which have gathered around the idea of "will.”.....

 

Lesson 28 - The Ways of Tiphareth

.....You are asked to study all these Paths as described in the Practical Guide, so that you will have the general background in your mind. For in this Lesson, we are going to test your developing powers of concentration by dealing with more than one Path at a time. We want you to develop the power of synthesising thought, that power which enables a thinker to hold several concepts in the mind at the same time, and, to work out the general result of their combined action. This is something analogous to the mental achievement of a skilled chess player, who can visualise in great detail what will be the result of any one move on either his or his opponent's side.....

 

Lesson 29 - The Station of the Sun, Part One

.....Before we deal with this Sephirah, we want to remind you that during the whole of this conducted journey from the Veils of Kether right down to the Station of the Sun (which is the Sephirah Tiphareth), you have been keyed, through the colour scheme used, onto the Atziluthic level or "World.” That is, you have been considering this involutionary work as it has been carried out on the level of manifestation which is the farthest removed from the physical world. You have yet to trace this whole journey on each of the three other levels - the Worlds of Briah, Yetzirah and Assiah, if you would have a properly balanced understanding of the whole involutionary process. Remember, however, that although we think of these levels in terms of their own manifestation, yet they are outside of time and space as far as the first three levels are concerned. Only with the development of the last "Assiatic World" can we begin to think in terms of time and space as we know them.....

 

Lesson 30 - The Station of the Sun, Part Two

.....So many people think that in these matters it is a question of "this or that" whenever certain teachings are being considered. This is wrong thinking, and is responsible for much of the bitterness which exists between the followers of the various Faiths of mankind. Far more often, it is "this and that,” and the resolution of the pairs of opposites, though admittedly somewhat difficult for the untrained mind, does in the end bring not only new understanding, but releases power for our use. It is for this reason that we do not at any time tell you that you must agree with, or even believe what we tell you, until in your own mind it seems to you to be the correct working hypothesis.....

 

Lesson 31 - From Tiphareth to Netzach

.....We have now to follow the journey of the fool from the Sephirah Tiphareth down the 24th Path of the Tree of Life - the Path of Nun. In order to do this, we must first consider something of this Path and the ideas which are associated with it. The main outlines are to be found in Gareth Knight's Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, Vol II, pages 89 - 101. Those of you who possess Case's book, The Tarot, may find some interesting ideas put forward therein, in Chapter XVI, pages 139 - 144. Some of these we shall be discussing here.....

 

Lesson 32 - Netzach

.....As you will have seen from your study of this Sephirah, it is in a very real way a Sephirah of balance - balance always presuming the existence of the Pairs of Complementaries. Force and Form are here in harmonised balance, but the tendency of Netzach is to overthrow that balance in favour of the Force side of manifestation, rather than in favour of the Form side. A simple illustration may help here. If you look-at the sea when the waves are high, you will perceive that separate waves appear to almost become independent of the great mass of the waters. Nevertheless, it can be seen that these semiindependent waves are rooted in and part of the great mass of the sea. So in Netzach, forms appear and disappear, many of them apparently individual and separate, but in actuality this separateness is a temporary illusion.....

 

Lesson 33 - The Fool on the Paths of Jupiter and Mars

.....You will remember that the Sephirah Chesed is on that section of the Tree which the Fool traverses before coming into the Personality conditions of Netzach, and this Path, therefore, carried a certain grade of force from the Individuality aspect of the Fool. For remember that, as the Fool involves himself, under cyclic law, in manifestation, he follows the same plan that each Spirit Spark does in its descent into manifestation in and through the Personality which it begins to buildup for itself in Netzach and the so-called "lower" sephiroth of Hod, Yesod, and Malkuth. So this is a Path of Cyclic Law, as is shown by the Wheel on the Tarot Card, and it is this cyclic influence emanating from Chesed which determines the conditions under which the Personality which is being built will have to work. This applies equally, as we have said, to both the Fool and to every one of the Spirit Sparks which use this scheme of manifestation as the means of their development.....

 

Lesson 34 - The Fool on the Paths of Water and the Sun

.....The Fool in his aeonian journey has now come to the "personal levels" of manifestation, and has entered the sphere which is associated with the mind. Here the Divine influx of creative power has already reached this Sephirah through the Path of Water, which is governed by the Hebrew letter Mem. As you will see from the textbooks, this Path is attributed to the Element of Water, as is also the Sephirah into which it feeds. As both Case and Knight emphasise, one aspect of the Sephirah is a Water aspect. Now, as they say, water is the first mirror, the first reflector of images. Knight very correctly stresses that the images discerned in Hod are intellectual images, rather than the psychic images which are native to the next Sephirah, Yesod. It is important to realise that this reflection of images which takes place in all three Sephiroth - Tiphareth, Yesod, and Hod - is one of the vital strands in the makeup of the personality, whether we are considering the Personality of the Fool, or our own mundane personality.....

 

Lesson 35 - The Fool in the Treasure-House of Images

.....The Fool now stands in the Treasure-House of Images. What do we mean by that? You will remember that this new manifestation - this new universe - is not entirely new, for the past experiences of the Fool are impressed upon its very nature, since He has caused His life and consciousness to flow through it. He carries, you will remember, a Wallet, which contains His memories of the Past. These memories, like our own, are derived from His own subconscious and superconscious being. As the Magician, He set forth upon His aeonian journey in the establishment of this new universe - this new field of manifestation, and this is the conscious aspect of His Thought. Then, as He descended further and further into manifestation, His subconscious memories became established as the underlying stresses which cause manifestation to take upon itself shape and form, and the substance of the universe became in very truth His Body of manifestation.....

 

Lesson 36 - The Fool Takes the Last Step

.....The Fool has now come to the last stage of His involvement in Manifestation, and is preparing to enter the dark 32nd Path of the Tree of Life. It is therefore necessary that you acquaint yourselves with the teaching which is concerned with this Path. The relevant details are given in Gareth Knight's Practical Guide, Chapter 1, page 1 of Vol. II. Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah gives, in the chapters dealing with Yesod and Malkuth, considerable light upon the Path which unites them, and in Dr. Paul Case's The Tarot, Chapter XXV, the Path is considered from the standpoint of the Tarot Card "The World,” which is attributed to it. From all these sources you should be able to get a good deal of material for your understanding of this very important Path.....

 

Lesson 37 - The Fool in Malkuth

.....The relevant data concerning Malkuth will be found in Gareth Knight's Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, pages 189 - 203, and also, for those of you who possess it, Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah, Chapter XXV, pages 265 - 296. As this Sephirah is so very important, we suggest that you very carefully study and meditate upon the information which is given you in the above-mentioned books. It is of the very essence of the true Qabalistic teaching that this Sephirah is the level which is really of the greatest importance to us.....

Lesson 38 - The Universe of the Dancer

.....Incidentally, by the term "study" we don't mean a purely conscious consideration of what is therein written - a purely intellectual evaluation - but rather a quiet brooding over the general sense of the chapter. Use your visual imagination and "see" in your mind's eye the scenes and images which are described, "hear" in your auditory imagination the instructions as written and attempt to "feel" the atmosphere which the words and images suggest. You will perceive that there is much more to this than simply gaining certain intellectual knowledge from reading the chapter. Incidentally this does not absolve the Student from doing his best to understand what is being taught, but it does mean that intellectual comprehension is only part of the task. There must also be an "entering-in" to the emotional and physical aspects of all manifest life.....

 

Lesson 39 - Course Notes

.....In the last few Lessons you have been told that the Castle of the Round Table - apart from its symbolic meanings - was, as you had built it by your visualising work, a remote-control device, by means of which you would be able to set in motion certain occult forces in your own body, and these forces would bring about the beginnings of supernormal awareness. This, of course, was not the only power which these forces would give you, but it is one of very great importance. Many of you will, by the time you read this, have found the beginnings of such supernormal consciousness to be showing themselves, and those who have not yet experienced this will probably find that this unfoldment will soon become evident. Of course, there will be those of you who do not, apparently develop anything of this nature, but even so, you will have found that the Lessons and exercises have brought through great changes in your outlook on life. Others again, have fallen by the wayside, but even though they lacked the perseverance of their fellow-students, they will have been affected - each to his degree - by the forces which began to work through them.....

 

Lesson 40 - Symbols and Symbol-Systems

.....These various definitions may seem to be somewhat confusing but we have included them all as they are each a facet, as it were, of the true meaning of the word "symbol.” If we take the word "image" as a means of describing the nature of a symbol, we have to be careful to realise that although we usually think of an image as something perceived by the eye, there are "images" relating to all the five physical senses. Indeed the esoteric worker also includes in this category the images derived from the superphysical planes. So we have visual images, auditory images, tactile images, odoriferous images and gustatory images - these latter being the result of the activity of the taste-buds of the palate. Thus, each sense forwards to the central brain a complex of impressions which have been received in its own particular way. Incidentally, it does occasionally happen that, due to certain illness or because of some psychological "crossing of the lines" the images of one sense are transposed into the images of another sense. Thus it has been known for people to see sounds and hear colours.....

 

Lesson 41 - Image Building

.....Here we come to one of the most important points in this training - one that must be borne in mind when one is commencing to train the mind along these lines. The mind is a creature of habit, and does not like to be trained. In the words of certain Yoga instructions, it is like a monkey chained to a tree. It will not keep still, but wanders restlessly from one point to another. Not only does it rebel against any attempt to control it by persisting in this restless movement, but it also attempts - often very successfully in the early stages of training - to force its owner to stop trying to attempt such training. This reaction may vary from a simple forgetting to do the exercise to a very real experience of headache, palpitation and general malaise. The mind judges, and usually quite correctly, that any adverse physical symptoms will alarm its owner, and so cause him to abandon the training.....

 

Lesson 42 - A General Survey

.....As we come to the last ten Lessons, it may be as well if we stop awhile to take a general survey of what has already been given in this Course. When this course was commenced, the aim we set before us was to give Qabalistic teaching in such a way that the Students would be able to make of the Qabalistic philosophy and technique a working tool in their own lives. Above all, we wished to encourage our Students to experiment for themselves with the technique, for we hold that much of the portentous warning given in so many occult writings was due to an unwise repetition of quite genuine but rather rare experiences. That there are dangers in esoteric practice is true enough, but so there are in anything in life - life itself is dangerous - but that does not prevent us doing our best to live. Daily life in a big city can be quite a dangerous thing when one considers the volume of traffic and the existence of reckless drivers. As a matter of actual fact - as distinct from the well-worn stories which are passed round in esoteric circles, and which appear to be like those told by the Fat Boy, intended to "make yer flesh creep" - there is very little evidence that the practice of the esoteric techniques results in the dangers attributed to it.....

 

Lesson 43 - The Magical Personality

.....Those of you who have read my book The Magician, His Training and Work will have noticed the Chapter headed "The Magical Personality.” This Lesson considers this particular aspect of training from another angle. Although I have received many letters dealing with different points in the book, very few people indeed seem to have realised the importance of this particular technique. Perhaps this is because of the way in which it was presented, for one may be fairly sure that if one particular part of a teaching is apparently ignored by the questing mind of the Student, it is because of some fault in the way in which it was presented to him. This matter of "communication" has always been subject to difficulty, and in these times we are seeing how such a partial or even total breakdown of communication between various social and other groups gives rise to very serious problems.....

 

Lesson 44 - Codes and Communications

....When our Students reread the Lessons they have received (as we trust they do), they will see that the instruction given them has been along several different lines, and has been given in what may seem to be a somewhat random way. Those of our Students who are accustomed to the ordinary scholastic methods may well have wondered why this instruction was given in this way, for surely it would have been much better to use the normal teaching routine. There is substance in this, but it fails to take into account the nature of esoteric teaching and training. Also, it does not take cognisance of the complexity of the human psyche. For these reasons - amongst others - it cannot be recognised as a serious criticism of the occult methods of instruction.....

 

Lesson 45 - The Basic Principles of Pathworking

.....There is, however, another and more important reason why it is necessary to clear away some of the misunderstandings which have gathered around it. There are certain basic principles used in Pathworking, and it is the principles which are more important than all else. Given the principles, the practice can be built up in various ways and still be effective, but without a clear grasp of the laws underlying it, Pathworking can degenerate into a superstitious and mostly futile esoteric practice. Some, who teach such superstitious observances, excuse themselves by saying that it is not possible to explain the real nature of the work, and therefore the student should simply follow instructions without in any way querying them. Now this we hold to be totally out of line with what we have learnt of the Mysteries of Light. For us, at least, it is necessary that we should know the principles behind the practice if we are to work effectively with them.....

 

Lesson 46 - Concerning Autoscopes

.....Quite recently we received a letter from one who was interested in the teachings of the Qabalah, and in this letter the writer stressed his conviction that, "the philosophy of the Qabalah, as usually presented, is arid and sterile, having little or no relation to the practical things of daily life.” That this could be said by an earnest student of esoteric matters should make those who are concerned with giving out such teachings carefully consider the methods which they are using. Although we yield to no one in our admiration of those wise Masters of the Hidden Wisdom who in the past revealed to their pupils some of the mysteries of the Light, we also know that much which was then given out in good faith, and which - at that time - was good and helpful, has now become, through the passing of time, obscure and often misleading. If this is true of the teachings of the great teachers, how much the more is it true of the teachings their pupils have given out. For all men are liable to error, and even a truthful teaching may become misleading through being misinterpreted. Also, methods of teaching, methods of development, methods of presentation may all become relatively evil when they are used to teach, develop, or present these things at the present time. Not that the principles which were behind the teachings can ever be outdated - they are the immutable laws underlying all esoteric work - but the forms in which those teachings are given may well obscure and even distort the truth therein contained.....

 

Lesson 47 - The Hidden Depths

.....We have also returned to this basic statement because of its importance, and also because it is a truth which tends to be forgotten. "Get to know yourself" is the most important thing you can undertake, for only in this way can you begin to understand and know others in any real sense. And as you begin to become acquainted with yourself - in the depths as well as in the heights - so you find that your position in the universe is something which is very different from the ordinary idea of what that position is. You find that there are two apparently conflicting truths concerning your relationship with the universe.....

 

Lesson 48 - Some Implications of the Course

.....Let us take the word "education" first. Now we normally think of education in terms of filling an empty vessel - here is an empty mind, so we will pour into it certain ideas and make certain that these ideas are retained more or less in the form in which they are given. This, at all events, was an idea of education which persisted up to a few years ago amongst the general public. However, the best teachers have always regarded education in a very different way, and this is now being more and more acknowledged as far the better way of dealing with what has - erroneously - been called the "virgin mind" of the child. We have said that this is an erroneous idea of the child mind, and this is so, for, as Oliver Wendell Holmes says somewhere in his writings, "When we are born, our mind is not a blank sheet - a 'tabula rasa', but is indeed a 'palimpsest.'".....

 

Lesson 49 - A Choice of Ways

.....As a matter of fact, this has already been demonstrated by some students who, even before the end of the Course, have found such faculties and powers becoming increasingly active. Of course, there are others who have plodded steadily through the Lessons, but have apparently not developed any such faculties or powers. However, even in these cases, much has been done in the inner selves of such Students which will bear fruit in due season, and we would ask them to consider the "Ways" indicated in this lesson, for it may well be that in working in one of them, they suddenly find that the inner powers have begun to work. Not all develop at the same rate, and it may well be that they are what, in educational circles are known as "late developers." In the world of education, such late starters have sometimes achieved considerable success, a notable case being that of Winston Churchill.....

 

Lesson 50 - Fresh Woods and Patures New

.....Now, at this final stage of the Course, we feel that it may be appropriate if we tell you something of the background of conditions from which the Course was born. That same background is still the conditioning basis of all our work in this field. Throughout these lessons you have been told that they are based upon the teachings and practice of what we have referred to as the "Western Esoteric Tradition." Some of you may have read the books of Dion Fortune, Dr Regardie, and others who claimed to belong to this Western Tradition, so you have a fairly comprehensive understanding of what this term means. Others perhaps, have only a vague idea - possibly only that which may be gathered from the pages of the lessons of this Course. Let us then, outline for you what this Western Tradition is, and how it works.....