A point that has been raised here is that of terminology. In the days when IIH was written, "control of thought" didn't have all the accretions of meaning we give it today, i.e. brainwashing, hypnotized drones, evil imposition on another's psyche etc, it just meant not living automatically or reactively, but to have awareness of thought processes and not be a slave to either the animal brain or the superego.

Like all practices that bring one in contact with what moves our world, inside and out, this "magic" or "hermetic science" is a two edged sword. There have been "black yogins" if you will, spiritual predators, and they use the same techniques to "gain power" as those on a pure path. In the religious context of hinduism and buddhism the earnest seeker is advised to never use any siddhi they develop, but to press ever onward. The western occult practices tend instead to lay the burden of ethics on the practitioner, though to my knowledge most occult groups  have some sort of ethics considerations in the oaths members take. (tons can be found online about the inner workings of the Golden Dawn, as both Crowley and Regardie renounced their silence oaths and spilt the beans and the Ciceros continued Regardie's divulgation campaign)

This of course can't stop folks from "losing it" at some point, nor are the instructors in these groups omniscient to be able to avoid bad apples getting in. And of course there's no pedigree that can guarantee the intentions of those in charge any particular group either.

As for:

"... now I understand why. Aleister Crowley and other left hand path occultists are big on training the will. It is the only way to break away from the "tyranny of divinity" and take power into one's own (ego's) hands."

Which I'm not sure is from Montalk or part the quoted material, Crowley did not consider himself a Left-Hander and the "Will" he refers to is most definitely not the Ego, it's what someone more sypathetic to christianity might have called one's "vocation". He in fact equates the Ego with the demiurge, considering it the tyrant of the microcosm. The personification of the demiurge in AC's Aethyr visions (CHORONZON) is considered "the devil of dispersion" and acts very much like one's own chatterbox brain that won't let one meditate; evoking random image after random image to distract, distort and delay.

An entire thread could in fact be made around the concept of "will" and "Will"; The thelemic definition, the nietzschian definition, the nietzschian definition as distorted by the nazis, and how they all relate to the ego.

The exersises that Bardon, Butler and Crowley prescribe are meant to gain the necessary "control" (without negative connotations) over the flow and ebb of conciousness. I don't think politically correct sanitation of terms will help. First, it has to be done every few years as pop culture changes, producing a newspeak-like distortion of meaning effect in the populace. Second, if I want to quiet my personal demiurge I will aspire to such control without considering it STS. At least not more STS than aspiring to fresh air or nutritious food.

The dangers of Ego-inflation are present in any spiritual quest and the subject is widely treated in magickal literature. Constant self-observation (diaries are always suggested in these books) and a decent dose of self-effacing humor are always a good idea. And as for the "entities" (my vote is still out as to what really happens) encountered, there are ways of testing them that are rarely employed by channelers.

No source should be your exclusive source, that's a restriction that limits both growth possibilities and capacity for discernment. The fact that there have been many who have used these techniques for bad intentions shouldn't scare one off of the reading , knowledge and experimentation any more than the plethora of fake channelers and parasites should scare one off looking through material.

Raised an atheist I have often found myself instinctively on better moral footing than many religious types. You get out what you put in, they say, and if one has only greed, fear and anger to put in the magick can only come out black, be their technique that of Yoga, Magick, Fourth Way, Christian Science, whatever. It's all magick and WE color it.

First post in a thread and rambling already.. oh, well.

Love is the law, love under will.

Hildegarde wrote:

If you still had STS intentions and behaviours, Divine Providence would continually force you to review your intentions on whether you are suited to this goal. Read the epilogue in IIH. It will help you understand this.

To me that is wishful thinking. Divine Providence –although sounding restrictive- doesn’t restrict free will. So, if it is the will of a person to lie to oneself about one’s own motivation it is allowed to happen. Otherwise no black magic would have ever been allowed to be performed.

You are true on this point. What I wrote sounded a bit off.
All I wanted to say was that I think a desire to change for the better is a prerequisite for this system.
Otherwise there will be barriers. The barriers could be subconscious or conscious.

You may be right. If you read commentaries and explanations on this from other Bardon related sources you will come to realise that he has provided what you need.

To me that is wishful thinking. Divine Providence –although sounding restrictive- doesn’t restrict free will. So, if it is the will of a person to lie to oneself about one’s own motivation it is allowed to happen. Otherwise no black magic would have ever been allowed to be performed.
The page you posted is not an excerpt from IIH, it’s from an external page from a person who is, as far as I can say, aligned to the right hand path. He sounds very rational and balanced. The original epilogue in IIH regarding introspection is much more vague - maybe intentionally to prevent the material offered being used for one side of the polarity only. The C’s stated oftentimes, that universal law determines balance for the handing-out of information, so that even in our STS-dominated world positively oriented material has the chance to be published. So maybe Bardon was conscious of that principle and kept his material as neutral as possible to keep the balance.
I have worked with these books successfully for some years and also have got to know some persons who have developed quite impressive abilities through taking practice in it. But looking back, most of them have been stuck in the STS-mode – unconsciously of course. Not that they were evil grim black magicians, but their acting was centred on gaining metaphysical power for the sake of power. To me this has become pretty pointless.
By the way, I suspect myself being a bit biased regarding this topic
I really like Montalk’s conclusion about proper application of will, lower impulses, awareness and the heart as motivator. One thing that has come to my mind: Are there terms like "joy" or "inner freedom"  mentioned somewhere in this book? I’d say, no. But this thread made me curious to re-read it, so I’ll have look for myself…

That said, this does hit home the problem with systems that are big on technique and skimpy on theory. Or at least, systems that claim themselves to be so complete that further study outside the system is discouraged. Sometimes they put colored filters onto your mind to bring out the contrast of the ideas studied, but these in turn might skew or suppress the perception of ideas outside the system. Like Fourth Way schooling, for instance, which despite its intriguing practicality comes up short in the long run; the effects can be similar to what you observed of that woman, Lono.

It has come to my attention that training the personal will in the manner outlined by Bardon -- to become a master of one's own destiny -- carries the danger of pushing one deeply into an STS existence of darkness and spiritual separation. The reason is that with enough willpower consolidated under the ego, even the beneficial guiding influences of the heart, destiny, divinity, and the higher self may be overridden whether intentionally or unwittingly. To use that level of willpower responsibly, one would have to be equally as wise and aware as those higher intelligences, which in our current physical incarnations is impossible.

This brings up something interesting for me.  For years, I was friends with and loosely identified a woman as my teacher.  She tried very hard to maintain that role/ illusion of being wiser than me, but it didn't take long for me to see through it.    I won't go into that, but one thing she always harped on me about was how I didn't "control my body" enough.  IOW, she got angry when I didn't push myself beyond the point of being tired or hungry.  She said I was too "into my routine," which was "so Virgo."  Well, in this case,  I always knew that tuning into the body was a way to tune into intuition, but she wouldn't listen.  She had a vested interest in using my gifts to make money for herself, so I never took her admonitions too seriously.   

She was very into contol, will, domination of her life and everyone else's, etc.  She was also very drawn to highly structured systems, like the quasi- Freemason organization she tried to get me into.  She also wound up having to have two thirds of her stomach removed in a dangerous bypass because of bleeding ulcers.  Gee-- maybe there is something to that 'body-listening' thing after all.

As time went on, I realized she was probably the most self-service-oriented person I knew.  That was incredibly dangerous, as she pretended to be a highly spiritual person who wanted to lead others down the path.  What she was, was a predator.  After I broke with her completely, I couldn't believe how long it took me to realize she wasn't just misguided, but evil.

Anyway, all that to say that I think you're onto something important there.

The whole book is written on that topic – controlling the power of ones thoughts, the elements, growing discipline, making schedules when to practice and so on. Honestly, I haven’t taken a look into it for years but that’s what I remember

Regarding control of thoughts, this is what I have researched on this:

Instead of using thought control, maybe thought calibration would be a better word for it.

If not with this, then through which system, that is publicly known? Remember, STS is about power and control.

Heandras is power or control necessarily bad?
Are they not just tools which we may use to execute whatever intentions the user may have?
Power can be used positively. People who make positive influences in our lives have to be strong and powerful.
Power makes you expand and grow. However it is just a tool and to seek power itself as a means to an end is not balanced.
Control is also another tool. It's made up of two things: organisation and concentration. Without these, we would not be
able to grow. Without a direction (organisation) and effort (concentration) we would not be able to advance positively or negatively.

So we must be clear on our definitions here. When I referred to STS it had connotations of negativity/imbalance/egotism/separation from the source/illusion/black magic. This is what I meant. If you do not have noble intentions, integrity and balance, it would be impossible to advance in the Bardon system.

Below is a part of a page regarding Introspection. If you still had STS intentions and behaviours, Divine Providence would continually force you to review your intentions on whether you are suited to this goal. Read the epilogue in IIH. It will help you understand this.

The below is sourced from Hermetic University Online - Course CF103: Initiation into Hermetics Step One

If not with this, then through which system, that is publicly known? Remember, STS is about power and control. The whole book is written on that topic – controlling the power of ones thoughts, the elements, growing discipline, making schedules when to practice and so on. Honestly, I haven’t taken a look into it for years but that’s what I remember

You made some great points.
Being reverent towards your Higher Self and the higher light is important. Unless you have developed enough spiritually maturity and perception to decide on how you will go about life and completing your soul lessons, then you must be advised and guided by a higher power. If not, then you may end up going in circles or devolve.
On another note, I don't think STS advancement is possible with the Bardon system.

I am reminded of something the C's said in regards to L. Ron. Hubbard:

"L. Ron Hubbard was in charge of his destiny. Period." was not a complement, and now I understand why. Aleister Crowley and other left hand path occultists are big on training the will. It is the only way to break away from the "tyranny of divinity" and take power into one's own (ego's) hands. Also this from the Ra Material:

So be aware that a highly developed will used to consciously micromanage everything makes for STS advancement. If that's your idea of fun, go for it.

Total lack of willpower is not good either. What is its place? Put simply, willpower works best to restrain or override the lower impulses, while the heart is the best motivator for following the higher impulses. Awareness plays the role of discerning between the two impulses, understanding them, and knowing how to apply this understanding. Will to restrain, heart to motivate.

Ideally, the baser self, meaning the conduit of negative influences like social and genetic programming and the various matrix forces, should be subordinate to you, while you in turn should be subservient to your higher self. Therefore your will should have dominion over the baser self yet not interfere with the higher self. Notice how the things you truly love to do require no willpower since the energy of interest and enthusiasm propel you. By discerning and answering the calling of your heart, you are provided with the necessary energy and strength.