ZS: As an experienced magician, can you give some advice to all people taking the path of magic, using Bardon's system, and to those who are using some other? What are the most important points? What are the most common mistakes?

     

  In a nutshell, I think each individual has to determine how much time and effort to give to the practice of a spiritual or magical system.  If you give too much time to the spiritual, you then fail to develop your own personal interests and discover your place in history and your role in the society where you live.   The net result is that you end up becoming like or a part of someone else's ideals and spiritual goals rather than those which express who you are.  You serve a purpose or organization but it is not the one you could have discovered and which underlies your reason for incarnating.

       And if you give too little to your training and practices, you limit the creativity and influence you could have in the world by being motivated from a higher level and gaining access to insights only possible to those who see the world through divine eyes. 

     Again, I think our age is a great place for discovering what works best for you as an individual and you as an individual get to make your own decision and delight in pursuing your own path of life.

Question.  Is there a simple way to learn magick without having to do all the occult exercises?

Answer.  Yes.  You take three minutes to three hours each day of your life.  With this time, you imagine you are different things.  The order does not really matter.  What matters is that in the beginning you follow your interests and then branch out into every conceivable image.

    Imagine you are other people--all kinds of people.  Think of people you know, people from history, people from the future, and various ethnic and religious groups.   Imagine you are every kind of animal and things from nature--trees, bugs, mountains, stones, minerals, seas, clouds, planets, stars, and so forth.  Later on, imagine too that you are different spirits.

    As you do this exercise, notice carefully the effect of the imagery on your mind, feelings, and body.  Notice how each of your five senses is shaped and extended by the exercise.  At some point in your practice, you should be able to notice that if you imagine you are a seal or another person, you can get impressions that are not a function of your imagination.   Holding the image of something in your mind without distraction, you form a psychic connection.  This link can be extended and developed.  It turns into telepathy, clairvoyance, and clairsentience.

    This exercise is part of the study of omnipresence.  Under the law of love, you are free to join with anything in the universe.  This is no limit on or exception to this rule.  You open your mind and heart and become one with anything and everything that exists.  This is a basic exercise if not the basic exercise in magick as I understand it.  It is worth learning and practicing for a life time.

When I think of Bardon’s practices, I think of them as walking an individual into the depths of the spiritual world.  For me, this is serious stuff.  It is not New Age.  It is not cool.  It is not neat.  It is not a hot system or a really in thing to do. 

I consider Bardon’s system so dangerous that I have never recommended to anyone that they practice Bardon or buy his books.  I have a web site where I share my experiences.  I feel am “authorized�  by the spiritual world to share my experiences but I am not a promoter or salesman.

[...]

Good magic involves a coordinated use of akasha, the mental plane, astral plane, and physical plane.  There is the insight, intention, vision, and purpose of akasha.  There is the supervision, oversight, accounting, and appraisal of methods and means of the mental plane.  There is the energy, inspiration, motivation, and emotional involvement of the astral plane.  And finally there is the hard work, building, and producing enduring results on the physical plane.

[...]

Early on I point out that for myself the study of magic should only be undertaken if an individual has the highest commitments.  This means an individual is focused within akasha from the beginning.  I would also suggest that an individual first master his everyday life before developing his senses to perceive in the invisible world.

Everyday life is magic.  It is the cauldron where our spirit is tested.  If you have problems with work, relationships, emotions, mental clarity, physical health, work on these first.  Dealing with these problems is the requisite training required for developing a magical will.  And if you develop a magical will and succeed in using it to solve some great problem, akasha will still require you to succeed in everyday life in order to make further progress.

"Perfect balance" is not an achievable goal while incarnate. The proper goal is Equilibrium. This is a continuous, lifelong process that demands constant equilibration -- it is not a static result.

Equilibrium is a uniquely personal thing that is not based upon cultural pressures or the opinions of others. The details of the true magical equilibrium will look different for each magician. The point of initiation is to become your self, to the fullest, not to pattern yourself upon another's standards. Thus you will never find the answers to your own process of equilibration externally -- the only guide is your own conscience.

The goal of Step One in this regard, is the construction of your negative and positive soul mirrors, not equilibrium itself. This taking stock of what IS, is the first step in the process of equilibration. Step Two begins the work of conscious self-transformation, and the process of equilibration is continuous for the rest of your days. You do reach a stage titled "equilibrium" (which means that equilibration becomes automatic and instantaneous), but it is still a continuous process and not a static state of perfection.

There are several issues here. The primary issue is that what most folks title "Astral Projection" has very little to do with what Bardon titles "Astral Wandering".

The second issue is that many folks are born with the inherent ability to separate their astra-mental body. Most often, this is an undisciplined ability and of little magical use. And, most often, it leads only to experiences that are delusional in nature. One reason why Bardon places mental and astral wandering so late in the Steps and stresses the need for the magical equilibrium, is because it takes long training to be able to separate the astra-mental body and NOT be fooled into believing that a projection from one's own psyche is objectively real.

The third issue is that the magical or Elemental equilibrium can be achieved in any number of ways other than by doing the work of IIH. IIH presents only the Hermetic approach.

[...]

Initiation is nothing other than becoming fully conscious. Magic is nothing other than the fully conscious use of Natural Laws. A Magician is nothing other than a fully conscious person who makes fully conscious use of what Nature has provided us.

Awareness of self is at the root of Elemental Equilibrium. With time and practice, awareness of self becomes a habit and eventually not a moment passes without your being precisely aware of yourself.

Introspection is the first step in that process, but with time, introspection (which starts out as a special thing) becomes constant awareness of self. It takes no thought. It's automatic. An integral part of being.

[...]

The Elemental Equilibrium is a dynamic state of active and constant awareness of self. Nothing within the self transpires without full conscious awareness. Each thought is evaluated as it occurs. Each emotion is evaluated as it occurs. And the only change that occurs in reaction to thoughts, emotions or events, occurs with one's full conscious awareness. In other words, the balanced individual is not thrown about willy-nilly by events or intruding thoughts.

This is why it is called "equilibrium". It is the solid foundation. The ground of self upon which the initiate stands and meets life. Just like in Tai Chi, if you stand in balance, then you can shift with external pressures without being toppled over or moved against your will.

The Elemental Equilibrium is not so much a discipline as it is a choice. I choose to remain grounded in myself. In order to remain grounded I have to continuously express my truest nature as clearly as possible. In order to know my own true nature, I must remain continuously aware of self. And this does not limit me since Self is limitless.

By focusing inward, we find the Infinite.

And by focusing inward we find the guide that replaces cultural dictates or even thinking -- our conscience. This is what should guide us to, and guide us during the maintenance of, our Elemental Equilibrium, not what we are brought up to think is right or what someone else tells us is right.

Our conscience is the voice of our "Holy Guardian Angel", speaking to us in every moment of our existence. It never misleads. It is the clarity of Self, flowing into us, seeking expression. All we need do is trust it and obey it.

The thing about an onion is that once you get the dried skin off, the rest is pretty much all the same between the outer layer and the inner core. It's all 'onion'.

I prefer the analogy of building a house. First we excavate (introspection, the making of the Soul Mirrors) so that we can create a firm foundation. The we build our foundation (the work of Self-Transformation of the character). Then come walls, roof, plumbing, wiring, etc. (Steps Three through Five). Then when the basic structure is complete, we decorate the interior (Steps Six through Eight). Then we invite others into our new home (Step Nine and beyond). To my mind, initiation is not a matter of 'peeling away' as much as it is a matter of 're-creating anew'.

Magical Bilocation
© 2002

I don't know if this is true in Father Pio's case but from the hermetic standpoint it is quite possible and understandable.

Physical bilocation is accomplished by the Greater Self (pertaining to the Saturn sphere, the Greater Self is our *eternal* mental body), not by the temporal Individual or personal self. The Greater Self, which projects the Individualized mental body and thus the personal astral and physical bodies, simply projects a duplicate Individual mental body and
then condenses around it a matching astral and physical corpus, inserting it into the appropriate time and place.

When an adept bilocates, they will be focused at the level of their Greater Self while still functional at a physical level. In essence, the adept participates at a personal and Individual level. When in this state, it is possible to maintain concurrent conscious awareness in both bodies simultaneously, since this is a feature of the Greater Self's normal awareness. One is, in fact, in two places at the same moment with their full awareness intact. But this "splitting" or "multiplication" of awareness can only be done from the perspective of the Greater Self.

This same thing can be accomplished without the person's conscious participation at the Individual or personal level (e.g., with a non-adept who has no magical faculties, per se). This then is a more independent action stemming solely from the Greater Self and a higher need of some sort. As a consequence, the person would have no awareness of their double's actions, and vice versa.

From this site you can download a file called 'A word to the wise'. This is in the download page and you need to register in order to see the downloadable files. It has tips and strategies for the 'magician' but it also has very good tips for anyone interested in spirituality in general.

Make a Xerox copy of this page and post it, somewhere convenient your home. The following drills should be made a permanent part of your routine as time permits, although not necessarily performed in your magic room as a formal exercise. As a general rule, one does not abandon previously completed exercises, just because he or she has started on the next Step. Rather, one's daily lifestyle becomes gradually more and more saturated with magical exercises. In this way, you will not lose the benefit of all your previous exercises. The numbers in parenthesis refer to the Step and Type and Exercise number from the Training Guide. For instance, (I-M-1) means "Step 1-Mental Exercise-#1". "A"=Astral "P"=Physical

(I-M-3) THOUGHT FOCUSING While walking about or performing some chore, carefully control your thoughts so that nothing else is allowed to distract you from your intended thoughts, no matter how loudly outside thought forms may impinge against your consciousness.

(I-M-4) THOUGHT VACANCY Similar to (I-M-3) above, but with the goal being to completely force out all impinging thoughts from your environment, while holding your own mind vacant. This can be done while walking through a shopping mall or other intensely astrally polluted environment, and will keep this part of the brain firm and strong.

(I-P-1) PHYSICAL HABITS Body brushing, stretching exercises, avoiding carcinogenic substances on the body or in food, enemas, salt poison-drawing baths, distilled water, lecithin.

(I-P-2) CONSCIOUS BREATHING As often as possible during the day, practice breathing in your specific already-fulfilled desire along with the physical air element (which always contains astral fire, water, air & earth) as food for the body. This can be done anywhere.

(I-P-3) EUCHARISTIC EATING & DRINKING Charge all your food & drink first.

(I-P-4) CONSCIOUS BODY BATHING Force out hindering astral contamination.

(I-P-5) CONSCIOUS EYE BATHING "