Perseus Arcane Academy

Category: Eastern Traditions

  • Every Moment is a New Beginning – On Falling and Getting Up on the Battlefield of Life, Part I

    Every Moment is a New Beginning – On Falling and Getting Up on the Battlefield of Life, Part I

    For Yuri and Maschenny

    In the writings of several spiritual teachers, you periodically find some version of the phrase “the battlefield of life.” I’ve always liked that. In many ways, life is indeed like a battlefield, and magical training is one battle we fight on this battlefield. It is a battle in which we fight for adepthood. This is a vast battle, so don’t make the mistake of thinking that it only takes place on a small part of the battlefield of life. No, the battle that is magical training takes place on the entire battlefield. Keep in mind that the second mental exercise of Step 1 is mindfulness, which is something to be practiced every waking moment, regardless of whether you are driving, sitting in on a meeting at work, doing the laundry, mowing the lawn, or whatever. Also, keep in mind that part of magical training involves dealing with various karmic problems, and these karmic problems can pertain to any area of your life. The more you practice mindfulness, and the more you wrestle with your personal karma and any form of group karma that affects you, the more you will see just how intertwined your magical training is with all aspects of your life. Some battles on the battlefield of life may take place on only a small part of the battlefield, but the battle that is magical training is not one of them.

    The thing is, whenever you’re fighting, there’s a chance that you’ll fall. Sometimes, an opponent may sweep your leg or strike you hard enough to knock you down. Whenever this happens, it’s important to get up right away and continue fighting. Otherwise, your opponents are going to trample all over you and you’ll be less likely to win the battle. Falling down isn’t necessarily an issue. It’s staying down after falling that causes people to lose the fight for adepthood.

    An Important Idea

    To master the art of getting up after falling, there is an idea that you should strive to have deeply ingrained in your mind. This is the idea that every moment is a new beginning. I sometimes see people say things like “Every day is a new beginning.” That’s good, but it’s not good enough. If you believe that every day is a new beginning, then when you fall, you’ll say to yourself “Well, tomorrow is a new beginning, so I’ll get up tomorrow and start fighting again.” Don’t wait until tomorrow. This very moment is a new beginning. Get up now and start fighting again now. If the idea that every moment is a new beginning is deeply ingrained in your mind, if you live and breathe the idea that every moment is a new beginning, then you’re well on your way to mastering the art of getting up after falling.

    Examples of Falling

    So, what does it mean to fall? Imagine, for example, that you eat junk food for lunch and feel really gross. That is falling. If around dinnertime you say to yourself “I already feel gross, so I guess I might as well have junk food again for dinner,” then that is staying down after falling down. But if you say to yourself “Every moment is a new beginning, so I am going to begin eating healthy right now” and then eat something healthy for dinner, then that is getting up.

    Or, imagine that you waste five hours of your afternoon watching anime. That is falling. If you say to yourself “I’ve already wasted pretty much my whole afternoon watching anime, so I might as well waste the rest of the day watching anime as well,” then that is staying down. But if you say “I’ve wasted pretty much my whole afternoon watching anime, but this moment is a new beginning, so starting right now I’m going to use my time wisely,” then that is getting up after falling down. Even if you’ve been watching anime from the moment you woke up in the morning and it is now evening and there are only a few minutes left in the day, even still, you can say “Nunc coepi” and at least spend those last few minutes in prayer or practicing thought-observation before going to bed.

    Basically, falling means making an unwise choices. Staying down means continuing to make unwise choices. Getting up means beginning to make wise choices again. Every second you have to make a choice regarding what you’re going to do with that second. So choices are something you make on a second by second, or really a moment by moment, basis. You can choose to get up at any moment, even if you fell really hard just moments before, and even if you’ve been down for a while.

    Getting Up Requires Strength

    You can probably recall many experiences from your own life when you’ve fallen. Therefore, you probably know that getting up after falling can be difficult. It isn’t always difficult, but it can be. The stronger you are, the easier it is to get back up again. Actually, the stronger you are, the harder it is to get knocked down in the first place. But whenever you do happen to get knocked down, the stronger you are, the easier it is to get up.

    So, what does it mean to be strong? If you’ve read any of my recent writings, then you already know the answer, as this is something I bring up a lot; I consider it a crucial teaching for those who want to successfully win the fight for adepthood. But for those who may be new to my writings, I will summarize what I have to say on this topic. Feel free to skip the next paragraph if you correspond with me a lot or if you were subscribed to my Christian Hermetics email list, since these ideas have already been beaten into you over and over again.

    Obviously, when it comes to the metaphorical battle that is magical training, being strong doesn’t mean having large muscles. Many people believe that being strong means having a strong will; but for me, that’s not what being strong means either. For me, being strong means having a strong yetzer hatov. According to Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, one’s yetzer hatov becomes stronger when it is nourished with wisdom. Therefore, the way to become strong is to pray regularly, and preferably ceaselessly, for wisdom (see James 1:5). If the strength of your yetzer hatov is comparable to the strength of, say, Yuri or Maschenny, then you’ll win the battle for adepthood quite quickly and find yourself quite unscathed at the end. You know there are Bardonists who do successfully work through IIH, who do win the fight for adepthood, but who have many scars as a result of blows they received and falls they suffered while fighting. That won’t happen to you if you’re as strong as Yuri or Maschenny is, which is to say your yetzer hatov is as strong as Yuri or Maschenny is.

    Two Useful Phrases

    If you do research on the subject of falling and getting up again, you may periodically come across two phrases. The first is “Nunc coepi.” The second is “Nana korobi ya oki.” These two phrases provide valuable guidance for those who would learn to get up after falling, so I will discuss both of them.

    Nunc Coepi

    The phrase “Nunc coepi” means “Now I begin.” It is something you can think, or even say out loud, whenever you find that you have fallen. When you say to yourself “Now I begin,” what are you beginning? You are beginning to fight again. You can say “Nunc coepi” at any time, so you can get up and begin fighting again at any time. You don’t have to wait for the next day. You can get up and begin fighting again right this moment.

    Nana Korobi Ya Oki

    This phrase translates to “Fall down seven times, stand up eight.” The idea here is that no matter how many times we fall, we never become frustrated and give up. We always stand up again and continue to fight. I mean, if you really want to become an adept, then when you fall what else is there to do but stand up and continue fighting for adepthood? You might think “This is hopeless. I’ve fallen and stood up a thousand times already. Why even bother?” But again, if you really want to become an adept, then even if you’ve fallen a thousand times already, you still stand up and continue fighting for adepthood. And you don’t wait for tomorrow. You stand up right this moment. You stand up and fight because that’s the only thing it makes sense to do. Staying down isn’t going to bring you any closer to winning the fight for adepthood.

    Additional Comments on Strength

    One of my favorite songs is Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb.”(1) I think its lyrics have a lot to teach Bardonists. Bardonists working through IIH are trying to climb the Mons Philosophorum. This climb involves fighting battles along the way. For example, if you look at the well-known image of this mountain, you will see the lion of pride depicted therein. That is just one of many opponents the Bardonist will have to defeat as he climbs up this mountain by working through IIH. Consider the following verse from Miley’s song though.

    The struggles I’m facing

    The chances I’m taking

    Sometimes might knock me down, but

    No, I’m not breaking

    As you fight your way to the top of this mountain (or the tower, to use my preferred metaphor), you may get knocked down every now and then (or all the time, if you’re really weak and bad at fighting). In this verse, Miley says that she’s not breaking. That’s an inspiration thought. But the thing is, in real life, people do sometimes break when they fall while trying to ascend up the Mons Philosophorum. This may even happen to Bardonists who try to follow Bardon’s path, the path laid out in IIH, up that mountain. So be strong, because the stronger you are, the less likely you are to fall down and the less likely you are to be hurt if you do fall. Be strong like Yuri and Maschenny, like Garam, Enne, and Adori.

    Battles are Messy

    Generally speaking, no one plans to fall. When a boxer goes into the ring, he definitely has a plan for how he’s going to win, but he probably doesn’t plan on being punched so hard he gets knocked down. When you fall, that might screw up your plans. For example, let’s say you plan to spend the whole afternoon praying and meditating, but then your lustfulness knocks you down and you spend much of the afternoon masturbating while watching porn. Ok, so that fall definitely screwed up your plan. But hey, that’s just how battles work. You get knocked down sometimes. You have to be able to adapt when that happens. You have to be able to revise your plan. If you spend the whole afternoon masturbating, don’t spend the whole evening masturbating as well. Say to yourself “Nunc coepi” and then get up and begin being productive. Take a shower to clean yourself physically, then pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy or whatever your tradition’s equivalent is to clean yourself spiritually, and then go practice thought-observation, or visualization, or pore breathing, or whatever.

    Here’s another example many Bardonists can probably relate to. Let’s say you plan to spend the afternoon practicing the exercises of IIH, but instead you end up spending the afternoon on Bardon forums discussing the exercises of IIH instead of actually practicing them. Is that a fall? I’d say it is. But it’s ok to fall (unless of course you fall so hard you break, which does occasionally happen). What’s not ok is staying down. So don’t spend your evening on Bardon forums as well. Say to yourself “Nunc coepi,” get up, and begin practicing.

    Those of you who are familiar with the TOG may remember Data Maschenny’s fight with Data Jahad. Honestly, that fight has been a source of inspiration to me from the day I first read those panels. Data Maschenny was knocked down really hard by Data Jahad. After Data Jahad knocked Data Maschenny down, he thought he’d won, so he was about to walk away. But Data Maschenny smiled, said “I’m not done yet,” got up (despite being badly injured), and continued fighting. We should be that way. If you spend your whole afternoon masturbating, then your lustfulness will probably think it’s won for the day. You have to say to it “Not so fast. I’m not done yet,” and then get up and continue fighting. Your lustfulness may have knocked you down, but you can still land a few strikes on it after getting up. You can clean yourself up and then grab your komboskini and repeat a prayer like “Lord Jesus Christ, please heal me of my lustfulness. Amen.” or “Lord God Almighty, please purify my heart so that I may be free of lustfulness. Amen.” Each time you repeat a prayer like one of these, you land a blow on your lustfulness. How powerful these blows are depends, of course, on how focused you remain while praying, as well as how much faith and humility you pray with. That said, even many weak blows will eventually wear down an opponent. If your komboskini has 100 knots, then you will land 100 blows on your lustfulness each time you go around the rope. When you strike your lustfulness in this way, you are not just striking it with soft fists. You are striking it with fire and lightning, with your sword and spear. Some of my readers will know what I mean by this; others may learn in time.

    The Importance of Wisdom

    There is a book called Where There is Light that is a collection of quotes from Paramahansa Yogananda (2). Many of the quotes collected in this book contain valuable insights for those walking any spiritual path, including Bardon’s magical path. Out of all the great and useful quotes I came across while reading that book, my favorite is the following one.

    ‘ It is not a sin to be tempted. Even though you are boiling with temptation, you are not evil; but if you yield to that temptation, you are caught temporarily by the power of evil. You must erect about yourself protecting parapets of wisdom. There is no stronger force that you can employ against temptation than wisdom. Complete understanding will bring you to the point where nothing can tempt you to actions that promise pleasure but in the end will only hurt you. ‘

    Earlier, I said that wisdom will strengthen you so that the forces which try to knock you down as you fight for adepthood can’t knock you down. Here Yogananda is saying that wisdom will form parapets around you that protect you from the forces that try to knock you down. These are slightly different ways of saying the same thing. Don’t focus too much on the specific metaphor used to convey the message. Focus instead on the message that is being conveyed, which is that wisdom is the crucial thing for those who would not be knocked down.

    Going to the Gym

    A friend of mine is a boxer. One day, he was attacked by a carjacker while trying to fill his car with gas. He was able to fight off the carjacker quite easily. Later, when my friend told me what had happened, I asked him what he thought about the incident. He said to me something along the lines of “I’m glad to have put in all of those hours at the boxing gym. The more time you spend at the gym, the easier of a time you’ll have if you get into a real fight.”

    That’s such an important lesson. Strength training is a big part of all martial arts and combat sports. Boxers do strength training, as is obvious if you just google “strength training for boxers” or some similar phrase. Kung fu practitioners do strength training, as is obvious if you’ve ever seen videos of Bruce Lee doing one-finger pushups or Shaolin monks running up hills while carrying giant jugs of water. Karatekas do strength training, as is obvious if you’ve ever seen videos of Mas Oyama lifting weights. To be a good fighter, you have to be strong. So if we want to win the fight against the lustfulness that tries to compel us to masturbate instead of practice VOM, or the fight against the laziness that tries to compel us to watch anime instead of practice conscious breathing, then we need to do strength training. And that means praying for wisdom. When you pray for wisdom, you’re hitting the gym. You’re getting stronger. If you spend enough time in the gym, you’ll become as strong as Yuri, Maschenny, Garam, Enne, or Adori. Then you’ll never be knocked down in a fight with lustfulness, laziness, your addiction to smoking, or any other vice or shortcoming.

    Of course boxers, kung fu practitioners, and karatekas don’t just do strength training. They also learn various techniques like punches, kicks, and throws. And so in the Buddhist and Christian traditions, we have various techniques for dealing with opponents like irascibility, lustfulness, arrogance, and greed. For example, many techniques for dealing with the opponent that is anger/irascibility can be found here. If you are a martial artist, it is important to learn how to throw a cross and a jab, and to launch a side kick or roundhouse kick. But imagine that you are fighting someone really strong like Kallavan. Even if you punch or kick him, he will not be hurt unless your strength matches his. I remember back when I practiced martial arts, someone taught me a technique for breaking out of a full nelson. But one time, an opponent got me in a full nelson and, even though I knew a technique for breaking out a full nelson, I wasn’t able to escape. Why? Because my opponent was ten time stronger than me. If your opponent is just that much stronger than you, then it doesn’t matter what techniques you know. You’re going to get overwhelmed and defeated. So strength is the main thing, the foundational thing. That book by Thubten Chodron I linked earlier contains eight techniques for dealing with anger. Even if you learn all eight of these techniques for dealing with anger, your anger will overwhelm you if it is just too strong, and you won’t be able to use any of the techniques you’ve learned. Same with lustfulness. The Buddhist, Yogic, and Christian traditions all teach various techniques for dealing with lustfulness. You can learn various techniques for dealing with lust, but if your lust is too strong, you’re just going to go masturbate instead of meditate anyway instead of trying to use these techniques. If you’re strong though, you won’t be overwhelmed by lust, and you can use the various techniques you’ve learned to deal with lustful thoughts and feelings. I hope it is obvious that this isn’t just useless philosophy or useless theory. The teachings I am trying to convey here are of great practical importance for many Bardonists, because many Bardonists are up against enemies that are as strong as Kallavan. They are up against strong smoking addictions that will cause them to die of lung cancer long before they get close to completing the work of IIH. They are up against strong lustfulness that compels them to spend all of their time masturbating instead of practicing the exercises of IIH. They are up against strong sloth and laziness that compels them to spend all of their time on social media or watching Netflix instead of practicing the exercises of IIH. Become someone who is actually able to defeat an opponent as strong as Kallavan or you’ll lose the fight for adepthood. Or, even better, become someone like Adori or Enne who could instantly wipe the floor with Kallavan. These are the Bardonists who work through IIH in a few short years at most. No opponent, even those as strong as Kallavan, stands a chance against them.

    There is Method to Getting Up

    You might think you know how to get up if physically knocked down, and you probably do. But the way you get up is probably not the best way. In BJJ, there is a technique called the “technical stand-up.” It is a good way to stand up again while in the midst of a fight, but it takes practice. The point is, just as in martial arts there are techniques for getting up, there are also techniques for getting up when you are knocked down on the battlefield of life. If you google something along the lines of “how to get yourself to do difficult tasks” or “how to get yourself to do unpleasant tasks,” you’ll find many articles containing practical suggestions and tips. Some good suggestions and tips can be found in this article, this article, and this article. Since getting up can be unpleasant and difficult, learning to get up consists largely of learning how to get yourself to do unpleasant and difficult things.

    Never Stop Fighting

    Each of the negative traits on one’s black soul mirror is an opponent whom we might overcome as we fight for adepthood. Imagine that a Bardonist is addicted to smoking and develops lung cancer. It seems that his addiction to smoking has dealt him a fatal blow and he will die of lung cancer before completing the work of IIH. He has already lost the battle. Imagine also that this Bardonists gives up fighting and says to himself “I’ve already developed lung cancer, so there’s no point in trying to overcome my addiction to smoking. I might as well just continue to smoke frequently for the rest of my life.” This Bardonist has been knocked down by a fatal blow, and he has decided that since he is already fatally wounded, there is no point in getting up and continuing the battle, since he has already lost the fight for adepthood.

    I think a Bardonist like this is making a grave error. In some sense, we never lose any battle, because each battle we die before winning is a battle we will resume in our next life. In yogic terms, addictions are produced by vasanas within our minds. Vasanas are things you carry with you from lifetime to lifetime. If you do not overcome these vasanas during your current life, then you will have to continue to fight them in your next life. Even if your addiction to smoking deals you a fatal blow, perhaps you can deal it a fatal blow before dying. So there is still reason to get up and continue fighting. If you kill this opponent, you will save yourself from the trouble of having to do so during your next life.

    The Most Important Fighting Skills

    Many Bardonists, and occultists in general, have an interest in martial arts. I was one of them too at one point. There is obviously nothing at all wrong with studying martial arts, and this can even be helpful, because it can help you remain healthy and having good physical health really is an advantage when it comes to magical training. However, keep in mind that the fight we engage in during our magical training is not a fight against other people, but a fight against our own vices and other shortcomings. Therefore, learning to fight effectively against our own vices and other shortcomings should take higher priority than learning to punch, kick, and throw other people. Over the course of the years, I have met a fair number of occultists, including a few Bardonists, who had studied martial arts and could easily break out of a rear naked choke or triangle choke, but who could not break free from the grip of their own narcissism or vyāpāda. If you can’t do that, if you can’t defeat the enemies preventing you from attaining adepthood, then it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve thrown other people or knocked them down. You won’t complete the work of IIH, and that’s that.

    Am I Contradicting Rawn Clark?

    In his book A Bardon Companion, Rawn Clark writes “It does no good to treat any part of self as an enemy. Self-transformation is not an adversarial process!” Yet, here I am talking about how magical training is a battle for adepthood taking place on the battlefield of life, and stating that you need to fight the vices and shortcomings that are trying to overcome you. Am I contradicting Rawn?

    No, I am not. What Rawn is saying is that we should not treat our vices and other shortcomings as literal enemies. What I am doing is portraying one’s vices and shortcomings, not as literal enemies, but as metaphorical enemies. To treat one’s vices and shortcomings as literal enemies is to harbor vyāpāda toward them and to attempt to eradicate these negative qualities while motivated by vyāpāda toward them. But when I say to “fight” against these negative qualities, all I am saying is to make a serious effort to eradicate them. When you practice conscious eating to cultivate patience, for example, you are “fighting” against your impatience. You obviously don’t need to harbor vyāpāda toward your impatience in order to cultivate patience through conscious eating. In fact, concentration is a major component of conscious eating, and vyāpāda and the other hindrances will hinder you from concentrating well. Therefore, the more vyāpāda you harbor toward your impatience, the worse of a fighter you will be. Similarly, you are fighting against your lustfulness whenever you take up your komboskini and repeat a prayer like “Lord Jesus Christ, please heal me of my lustfulness. Amen.” In texts on prayer, you see a lot of discussion of how faith and humility are the foundations of effective prayer, but have you ever seen anyone claim that vyāpāda is a foundation of effective prayer? I haven’t. So when I say to “fight” against your vices and shortcomings, I’m not saying to harbor vyāpāda toward them or to act against them in ways motivated by vyāpāda. The metaphor of a battle is just that – a metaphor. Don’t take it too literally.

    Spiritual Combat is an Extremely Vast Subject

    This article is specifically intended to be about the subject of getting up again after falling down on the battlefield of life; it is not meant to cover the entire subject of spiritual combat. When it comes to learning how to fight for adepthood, there is much more to learn than just how to get up again after falling. A BJJ practitioner who has learned the technical stand-up but doesn’t know any throws or chokes isn’t going to win against any opponents. As you go into the battlefield of life to fight for adepthood, what weapons will you use? Perhaps you will use a sword, or perhaps you will use some other weapon. Also, have you heard the story of how Saint Columba called the archangel Michael down to fight by his side during the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne? As you fight for adepthood, you too can call the archangel Michael down to fight by your side if you are familiar with certain devotional techniques. But these are all topics for another time. To learn to fight takes time and effort, but if you do not succeed in learning how to fight, how can you win the fight for adepthood? For now, learn to get up again after getting knocked down. This isn’t enough, but it’s a good start. Later, learn to fight with fire and lightning, to wield your sword and spear. These things will all be revealed in time.

    1 – John Shanks and Jessi Alexander, “Miley Cyrus – the Climb,” Miley Cyrus – The Climb (Genius Lyrics), accessed August 12, 2022, https://genius.com/Miley-cyrus-the-climb-lyrics.

    2 – Yogananda, Where There Is Light: Insight and Inspiration for Meeting Life’s Challenges (Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 2016), Chapter 9, Section 2, quote 6.

    Visit Virgils Blog

    Join Virgil’s Course – The Key to Adepthood

  • Self Mastery with David Monaghan – The Art of Attunement

    Self Mastery with David Monaghan – The Art of Attunement

    Today I would like to welcome David Monaghan to the blog. David runs a beautiful website called The Art of Attunement which I highly recommend visiting after reading his interview. He has decades of experience to share with us from solo practice in a small hut in Australia to living in Buddhist Temples in Thailand.

    PAA: Welcome David, firstly we would like to thank you for taking part in this interview. Could you provide us with a brief introduction of your journey so far?

    David: Thank you James, I appreciate you having me on. My Hermetic journey began in 1999 when I started practicing Initiation Into Hermetics & Chi Kung with a friend of mine who I had grown up with. After roughly 6 months he had decided to travel to Thailand and introduced me to his teacher at the time, Sifu Mark Rasmus, to continue the training. Soon after this I realised, I had found my teacher and was ALL IN, so to speak, from that point forward. We trained constantly under Sifu’s guidance and had a small group of like-minded practitioners who were working together as a cohesive group. The training was a mix of hermetic meditation, chi kung & tai chi during these times.

    Sifu & his father, Eric Rasmus, who had both studied under William Cook Edwards in the 80’s at The School of Inner Knowledge, had a piece of land high in the mountains of Southeast Queensland. I was invited to build a small cabin on the land, which I did, and spent a large portion of my twenties living fairly isolated and practicing what I had be taught up until that point. I have very fond memories of these times, even though living without running water, electricity or a toilet and shower was difficult at times.

    During this period, I experienced many happenings that removed all doubt as to the capacity for one to awaken to the spiritual world while occupying a human body. These experiences grew over time, and I developed a yearning to push further into the practice. Hence, I decided to journey to Thailand with the intention of ordaining in the Thai Buddhist Forest Tradition at Wat Pah Nanachat in Northeast Thailand. Although difficult, this was a great experience and one that I highly recommend for any of your readers that are so inclined. Being immersed in practice, without any worldly distractions is a unique experience and allows for fast tracked progress if approached with a sincere intention. The spiritual energy within this temple was incredible and I had some great adventures during my stay, however due to some external circumstances I decided to return to Australia and took up residence in my forest cabin once more.

    Over the following years I continued the training and learning everything I could from my teacher. I also went and lived in another Buddhist temple in the same forest tradition in Canberra, Australia for some time.

    Basically, during my twenties, I was All In on the practice and lived it with every fibre of my being. I then met my wife in my early thirties and started a family soon thereafter, hence my thirties where focused around providing for the family and my ascetic lifestyle took a back seat. Now I am in my forties, my yearning for practice has switched on again with some force and I am enjoying practice and the path more than ever.

    PAA: Having started with training with Sifu Mark Rasmus way back in the year 2000, can you tell us how that training influenced you and where you went from there in your practice?

    David: Learning from Sifu is something that is difficult to put into words and I am eternally grateful for his time and efforts that he has dedicated to his students over the years. His depth of experience, knowledge, understanding and devotion to the Hermetic Sciences is on a completely different level to anyone else that I have ever encountered. I still consider myself to be a beginner on the path in comparison to his overall embodiment and level of understanding. I think one of the main reasons I have stayed under his direction for so long is that he always approaches his students from an equal footing and genuinely wants them to progress, rather than the usual hierarchal formats that quite often present themselves in some circles.

    I have been in the presence of many other teachers and so-called magicians; however, I don’t believe there has been anyone even close to that level of understanding, insight and overall capacity to see the different levels of reality. This made things somewhat difficult in the early years as I could I always sense my thoughts and feelings where highly exposed and there was not much my personality could hide in or out of his presence.

    I feel very grateful to have been able to train under Sifu’s guidance for so long and I consider myself to be very blessed to have had such a well-rounded, genuine and intuitive teacher. Unfortunately, due to my personal circumstances and responsibilities it has been some years since I have been able to be a student and have had to rely on my own personal accountability in respect to practice and development. This has given me the time & space to take ownership of the training rather than ride on the group energy which is a far easier pathway in some respects. Sifu does a fantastic job of holding the group energy, which allows for a faster development and much easier transmission of knowledge and understanding.

    PAA: You spent time in the Buddhist temples in Thailand. Could you share your experience? I personally like the Thai tradition for the somewhat measurable results through the various Jhana, how did your experience influence your Hermetic work?

    David: I have a deep respect and affinity for Buddhism, particularly the Thai Forest Tradition, although I also have a pull towards Tibetan & Shingon Buddhism. When you dive into the true teachings of Buddhism, it is a science in just the same way as Hermetics. In particular, the 37 Factors of Awakening from the Thai Tradition is something that has made a very large imprint on my consciousness and development. The 37 Factors overlaps the Hermetic framework perfectly and provides a very clear pathway to awakening.

    A brief overview of the correlation of the 37 Factors of Awakening from a Hermetic perspective:

    The Four Frames of Reference

    • Mindfulness in reference to the Body – Physical awareness
    • Mindfulness in reference to the Feelings – Astral awareness
    • Mindfulness in reference to the Mind – Mental awareness
    • Mindfulness in reference to the Mental Qualities – Akashic awareness

    The Seven Stages of Awakening

    Mindfulness, Analysis of Qualities, Persistence, Rapture, Serenity, Concentration, Equanimity.

    From a Hermetic perspective I consider this to corelate to the black & white mirror and balancing the four elements within the three bodies to generate magical equilibrium.

    The Four Right Exertions

    • Preventing negative qualities from arising
    • Releasing negative qualities that have arisen
    • Inviting positive qualities to arise
    • Nurturing positive qualities that have arisen

    From a Hermetic perspective I believe this corelates well to the different ways a Hermeticist can battle negative character traits, thus being;

    • Willpower
    • Autosuggestion
    • Alchemical Transmutation

    The Four Bases of Power

    • Concentration on Discernment
    • Concentration on Desire
    • Concentration on Intent
    • Concentration on Persistence

    From a Hermetic perspective we can easily see this in the four-fold key i.e;

    • Discernment correlates to the Air principle and the ability for one to “Listen”
    • Desire correlates to the Water principle and the ability for one to “Join”
    • Intent correlates to the Fire principle and the ability for one to “Intend or Will”
    • Persistence correlates to the Earth principle and the ability for one to “Persist or hold One Pointed attention”

    The Five Faculties & The Five Strengths

    • The faculty & strength of conviction
    • The faculty & strength of persistence
    • The faculty & strength of mindfulness
    • The faculty & strength of concentration
    • The faculty & strength of discernment

    From a Hermetic perspective these qualities are fairly self-evident and I consider them to relate to the qualitive and quantitative aspects of each of the above qualities.

    The Noble Eight-Fold Path

    • Right view
    • Right resolve
    • Right speech
    • Right action
    • Right livelihood
    • Right effort
    • Right mindfulness
    • Right concentration

    Again, from a Hermetic perspective I consider the above points are fairly self-evident and can be correlated into the black & white mirror work as well as the mental training exercises in Initiation Into Hermetics.

    This is obviously only a brief overview, and the 37 Factors of Awakening teachings and warrants further investigation and meditation, however I believe they will suffice for your readers and anyone that has interest will be able to dive deeper in their own studies.

    In respect to the different Jhanas or stages of concentration, as you indicated, this is also very beautifully described and laid out in Buddhism i.e

    The Four Form Jhanas

    • Appreciative Joy
    • Compassion
    • Loving Kindness
    • Equanimity

    The Four Formless Jhanas

    • Awareness of Infinite Space
    • Awareness of Infinite Consciousness
    • Awareness of Nothingness
    • Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception

    The Four Divine Abodes is also worthy of attention, thus being;

    • Appreciative Joy
    • Compassion
    • Loving Kindness
    • Equanimity

    The four divine abodes relate to states of awareness one should endeavour to maintain in everyday life. Whenever one is out of alignment with or not acting from one of these four states it is said that one is out of alignment with their true self and operating from the lower aspects of individualised personality.

    During daily activities one can reflect on these qualities and transform negative states into one of these four positive qualities through the willpower, autosuggestion or alchemical transmutation. This applies to not only actions but thoughts and feelings also.

    PAA: You run the Art of Attunement. Can you tell us a little about the name? From my training with Mark I am sure there is a story there to be told.

    David: Attunement is a term I was exposed to a lot over the years training under Sifu and I believe his teacher also used the term at The School of Inner Knowledge. I consider the term to encapsulate the overall goal of practice and the ability to connect with different vibratory levels. One of the most important teachings I received from Sifu was to always practice from our highest level of Attunement i.e prior to beginning any exercise we would raise our awareness up through the crown to our highest level of Attunement achieved in any past incarnation and practice from that state of awareness rather from the lower aspects of the personality. From my perspective The Art of Attunement is the process of bringing our material brain back under control through mastering thoughts and emotions and then learning to meditate into the silence to awaken to our true spiritual essence. Once this essence has been realised, we begin to open the doorway to Universal Consciousness, through building a vibrational scale of perception that allows the awareness to raise lower energies to higher, leading to the embodiment of our highest level of Attunement within the physical world.

    PAA: From the site you offer a variety of meditation programs, but I see you also teach about the Hermetic theory of awakening and working with energy. Can you tell us about your approach to teaching? Does it follow a more Franz Bardon Hermetic approach or is it more similar to the Buddhist approach?

    David: In my opinion and from what I can tell up until this point, the quickest way for someone to awaken the higher spirit senses is to learn how to tangibly feel energy. Once energetic sensitivity has been awakened, one then uses this energetic sensing as their meditation object and learns how to hold the awareness and the mind external of the physical body. With consistent and correct practice this ability becomes stronger, and the spirit senses naturally begin to awaken as they are not restricted by the physiology of the material body. Humanity still accepts the ability for one to “feel” subtle energies within the group consciousness, whereas if you tell the average person on the street that you can see or worse yet hear spirits, generally you are one step away from the funny farm or mental asylum.

    I have found through my own teaching as well as being in a student environment, that most practitioners that attempt to go only through the mental gate struggle to make progress as the mind is so subtle in its nature. Even Bardons Step 1 mental training is quite a feat to achieve for the majority of people and to be honest I don’t believe many can actually achieve success in this exercise without having a strong spiritual maturity already present with in the consciousness. To hold a completely vacant mind for 10 mins or more is a profound achievement in and of itself and displays a level of genuine mastery of the material mind. Don’t get me wrong I still believe these exercises are extremely valuable and worthy of practice and attention, I just think learning to feel energy first develops a stronger foundation to work from, especially for a beginner.

    In respect to my teaching style, it will vary from student to student, my goal is to become as empty as possible, step out of the way and let the energy flow through that will best help whoever I am working with. Having said that, obviously the majority of my work comes from Sifu Mark Rasmus, Franz Bardon’s works and of late I have developed a great affinity and connection with William Cook Edwards work from The School of Inner Knowledge. I also enjoy the teachings of Alice A Bailey as well as many others and have found it very advantageous to incorporate a considerable amount of Buddhist and Taoist principles and teachings.

    PAA: What sort of schedule would you expect beginning students to keep in order to actually make some progress? Additionally, how do you define and measure progress in meditative arts?

    David: It depends on the goal of the student, with each person being at unique level of spiritual maturity, I think it is somewhat pointless to place everyone in the same box. Not everyone is seeking full awakening, even if they think they are, hence it is up to the student to decide how far and how much they willing to push themselves. I see my role as just being a guide to the best of my ability to facilitate as much progress as possible and pass on the teachings and knowledge that I have so graciously been given.

    In respect to defining and measuring progress, in my opinion I believe it comes down to the perfection of one’s character. I have met many so called “magicians” who apparently have all these magical skills yet when it comes to their everyday character it is far from perfected. I think the ultimate gauge and a good question to ask yourself is if every being in the universe could see your every thought, feeling and action how comfortable would you be? This may depend on the level of arrogance within the character, hence, to take it one step further you could deepen this by reflecting on how much equanimity could you hold if your awareness was to suddenly transfer into a heavenly realm where your thoughts and feelings are no longer your own and you are an open book so to speak. Again this could be viewed with a certain level of arrogance or self-importance, however, if one is genuinely able to move the awareness into one of these higher levels, arrogance would quickly dissolve and the presence of such a quality would not allow the doorway to open to begin with.

    PAA: The common question we are often asked is how to proceed through the early steps of IIH. Vacancy of Mind, Visualization, and sensitivity to feeling Vital force. Can you offer those struggling in these areas any suggestions for their practice in order to move forward?

    David: There are many mental tricks one can adopt to allow for a faster progression, one that has helped me over the years is to develop an affinity for your meditation object. When you have an affinity or affection for something it is much easier for the mind to stay one pointed in focus. Thus, with the Vacancy of Mind exercise it is a good idea to develop a certain level of affection for that state of awareness, instead of always fighting thoughts from arising, you run to that state with a sense of bliss at being able to forget your everyday world for the time you are there.

    In respect to Visualisation one of the things that has helped me is to realise that if everything is made up of light and if white light has every colour of the spectrum within it then all colours exist within that light. Hence instead of imagining a colour or object you Will the colour or object out of the light that already exists.

    For sensitivity to Vital force the whole-body pore breathing exercise is the best place to start. If investigated and meditated on diligently one recognises that this is a natural phenomenon and one that is happening constantly with or without our knowledge. Softening the breath until it is almost imperceptible is one of the more important aspects of being able to listen to vital force. Once sensitivity to Vital Force has been awakened, building energy between the hands is the next step which allows you to tangibly feel the energy and erode any doubts as to its existence lurking in the back of one’s consciousness. The four bases of power as discussed above is a major key to this work and allows one to generate an energetic lock on the Vital Force as well as any other energetic frequency.

    PAA: Are you able to tell us about your experience with PME and KTQ? Are these a big part of your training or have you focused your efforts elsewhere?

    David: Training with Sifu for so many years, Evocation and Kabbalah where obviously a very large part of the training, however this is something I don’t generally discuss openly as I believe it is irrelevant to do so, especially in an open forum. In my opinion, perfection of the character is a far more relevant topic and unfortunately one that is quite often overlooked. Hence why Bardon made such a point of it with the Black & White Mirror.

    Having said that there is a large portion of Kabbalah practice within the Tiger Chi Kung system that I teach and was taught by Sifu, mainly building the four elements kabbalisticaly within the four regions of the physical, astral, mental and akashic bodies.

    PAA: Here we invite you to talk about any subjects that you feel are important.

    David: I think one of the more important aspects to the training, particularly for beginners and something that was strongly programmed into me by my teacher was to remember to focus on the process rather than the results. The results will come in and of themselves as a side effect of the correct processes being undertaken. The competitive nature of humanity often leads to performance anxiety and disrupts the mind from attaining one pointed concentration on a meditation object.

    Also, I believe the most important teaching I was ever given by my teacher was to develop and build the frequencies of Humility, Devotion, Reverence and Sacredness through all levels one’s being i.e body or actions, soul or personality and spirit or mind. This to me is the most important key that I have been given as it assists in opening the door to the higher frequencies and levels of existence.

    PAA: Thank you David for taking part.

    If you would like to contact David or learn more about his approach please contact David over on his site The Art of Attunement

    Rainbow Body, Jalu and the Miraculous (Updated for 2022)

    Join the Community

  • Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha with Author Daniel Ingram

    Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha with Author Daniel Ingram

    I am excited to introduce this interview with Daniel Ingram, author of the very well known book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, he is also active and shares a lot of information over at the Dharma Overground as well as a personal blog, with older, free versions of his awesome book available. If this interview has piqued your interest then there are some real treats for you with lots of podcast appearances here.

    This is a repost of an article we first published on StudentsofFranzBardon.com

    PAA: Welcome to the blog and thank you for taking part. Could we begin by introducing yourself and how you began this path from there we will move into more specifics.

    Daniel: I am a retired emergency medicine physician in the US with a background in public health/infectious disease epidemiology, as well as extensive meditation retreat experience, mostly Theravada Buddhism (have done over a year on retreat in various bits and pieces), author of Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha (www.mctb.org), co-founder of www.firekasina.org, and magical practitioner since mid 1990’s, often augmented by intense Buddhist meditation practices and states. I got into this path through various childhood experiences, all explained in the last part of www.mctb.org.

    PAA: As this blog is coming from the perspective of Franz Bardons Hermetics I would like to discuss one of our early exercises. Called Vacancy of Mind we need to hold the mind free of thought for 5 minutes and eventually ideally 30 minutes. This is often the first obstacle for people as not many tools are given to get to his point, there are 3 preceding exercises 1) Observing the contents of the mind 2) Focusing on one train of thought and 3) Remaining Conscious during the day.

    Now I believe the day is often the key in remaining aware, but after hearing your story and reading your book I saw that you decided to capture 100% of sensation from the sense gates and this became a turning point. So could you comment on firstly what you believe the requirements are to gain the still mind and secondly the significance of capturing every sense from the sense gates.

    Daniel: Ok, the first point is one has to be very careful about what one means by “thought”, which, from a technical Buddhist point of view, contains lots of different types of sensations, such as:

    • intentions (even the intention to direct or hold intention, and these occur before all actions, even thinking),
    • mental impressions (which occur after all types of sensations as a very rapid mental echo that is what can then be remembered and processed by further thoughts, as well as contributing to the sense of the observer/controller),
    • “binding sensations”, which are these very rapid, quick sensations that through a mix of memory, anticipation, recognition, familiarity, background framing sensations, and the like give a sense of continuity to experience,
    • Subtle evaluative analysis and comprehension, that sense of recognizing and monitoring what is going on (which would be ironically required for most ordinary forms of noticing that one’s “thoughts” were reduced or absent)
    • The complex interwoven sensations that make up parts of emotions, and, of course,
    • The ordinary thought stream involves primarily a sort of linear verbal narrative and visual images that most people think of as “thinking”, which is probably what is meant here.

    This is not even the complete list, but it gives one a sense of what one is up against if one truly wants to eliminate all forms of “thought”.

    To dramatically reduce the volume of the linear thought stream is clearly difficult but doable with what Buddhists would call “jhanas” which can be taken to a vast range of depths and come in 4/8 basic flavors, see www.mctb.org Part III for more information on this. This is typically way easier on retreat for those doing high-dose practice, typically becoming more accessible after somewhere around 100 hours done over 8-11 days, that sort of dose. These skills, for many, fade rapidly when one goes off retreat, but, for those who are diligent and have the other requisite levels of mental and psychological stability, can at least give one a taste of what is possible.

    To truly shut off all thought in the strict formal Buddhist sense requires attaining to either an extended Fruition with duration, something hard to do and requiring at least the first stage of awakening, or to attain to something vastly harder, that very rare attainment called Nirodha Samapatti, only attainable by highly awakened beings with access to the formless realms and again explained in detail in www.mctb.org. These are both high attainments and not likely what FB was talking about. If one is interested in practices that may lead to magical experiences and increased degrees of mental quiet and stillness, I recommend high-dose fire kasina practice, again with lots of free information found at www.firekasina.org. In particular, check out the Tower of Hallbar retreat from 2015.

    PAA: Do you feel that these states of stillness follow the same process due to the one constant that is us and our biology, or do you feel that specific methods from different traditions can possibly take you down differing side roads which though we may think we have reached x state we have not.

    Daniel: The debates about how various traditions do or do not attain the same states and how many truly different roads there are is endless and will not likely be resolved until we have vastly better neuroimaging technology and a wide range of deep practitioners willing to be imaged by it. The mind is truly very complex, and the range of experiences that various practitioners can get into, even on, say, the same retreat with the same techniques and the same instructions, is vast. Also, misdiagnosis by one’s self and sometimes skilled teachers is common and par for the course. What one person vs another means by, say, “stillness”, or “rapture”, or “concentration”, can vary widely. It is a serious problem when trying to sort this out, typically requiring long, careful conversations and observing people over many days, weeks, or months to get a sense of how their practice unfolds and how they language their attainments and experiences. That said, I do think that the jhanas, properly understood in their still wide range of possible manifestations and forms, can provide a useful framework for understanding the possible degrees of mental stillness, stability, and concentration. Again, you can find a long set of descriptions of this topic in www.mctb.org for free.

    PAA: What is your opinion of things like Kechari mudra that seems to be a symptom of the rising of bliss which strangely starts to make the tongue naturally reach towards and eventually into the nasal passage? As the bliss is according to traditional thinking, the cause, whereas in Buddha’s path through the jhannas this bliss may be a magnet into the next Jhanna?

    Daniel: I personally haven’t done extended Kechari Mudra practice so should be careful here in speaking beyond my core areas of knowledge and experience. I personally can’t insert my tongue into my posterior nasopharynx. I have had had many powerfully blissful experience in meditation yet never had my tongue do that. Bliss in jhana in Buddhism is initially a draw to the lower jhanas, but then it also becomes something we may become dispassionate towards, leading to the higher jhanas, which are characterized first by subtle bliss, then by a superior neutrality which is better than bliss in the fourth jhana, and eventually by formless realms which are lacking in any obvious bodily feeling tone, as the perception of the body is gone by that point.

    PAA: From reading some of your other interviews I see that you have said that Vajrayana is a big part of what you do, though perhaps you are (most known?) for bringing clarity to the process of entering the Jhannas and helping people make sense of the journey. How significant do you see the Vajrayana and dzogchen teachings when compared to other vehicles of buddhism? Do they deserve their reputation of being skillful means?

    Daniel: Vajrayana is a very complex topic with many aspects, practices, traditions, and attitudes. I have practiced with much more of a Vajrayana attitude than I have done some of the very specific practices, though I have definitely done a number, though I never had a formal Vajrayana guru, for example, which some would consider an essential component of the Vajrayana path, though I have received some Vajrayana empowerments from some qualified to give them. The skillfulness of the Vajrayana is a huge topic, and it is definitely one of the higher-stakes ways to play the game. It has deservedly earned a bad reputation recently due to scandal after scandal, abuse after abuse, so, if you go into the Vajrayana, realize that there is a lot of that around, and keep your wits about you. That said, there is some great tech in it as well and really good people and teachers also, so don’t throw the baby out with the narcissistic psychopaths, I mean bathwater. I particularly appreciate its emphasis on embracing and working with the full emotional range skillfully, as articulated in books such as Journey Without Goal, by Chögyam Trungpa, particularly the section on the Five Buddha Families, as a great example of what I mean.

    Dzogchen is also a vast topic, but books such as Clarifying the Natural State, and related topics such as Sutta Mahamudra and Essence Mahamudra, are all very worthy of study. I routinely joke that Dzogchen and Mahamudra are remedial practices given to those who didn’t understand the profundity of Three Characteristics teachings of the Theravada, but that is not entirely fair, as they do add concepts and language that can help some people understand those topics more skillfully who didn’t understand them in some other presentation as well.

    PAA: You have provided very clear information in your book which has helped many start to have real experience with the Jhannas. So do you feel in this modern age that a teacher is a necessary part of the journey to enlightenment? Or is this something that if we have the correct information for practice that it is more a matter of just doing it and the results will come?

    Daniel: I definitely know people who woke up without having any sort of a formal teacher, and the problem these days is the reverse of what I came up with, that being that there is so much good information around it is easy to get lost in it. Like simple practices and simple frameworks done really well, so that is my general advice. If you need a teacher to help you follow very simple instructions and do very simple things well, ok, well, such is your karma. It is definitely true that good teachers can sometimes see obvious imbalances that you somehow couldn’t see. If you are looking for a teacher, definitely seek someone that is low on exploitation and high on personal empowerment, asking you to see for yourself and do the experiment for yourself, to make the practice 95% about the practice itself showing you directly and maybe 5% about study and the words of any teacher. Most people simply don’t get the dose high enough and expect a teacher to compensate for that. It would be like only taking your medicine you were supposed to take every day once a week instead, and then asking the doctor who prescribed it to answer lots of questions about the medicine to you to make up for the difference in effectiveness.

    PAA: Similar to the previous questions, the fruit of Dzogchen is supposed to be the Jalu – Rainbow Body, of which there have been practitioners in recent years who seemingly shrank and the bodies did not follow the expected pattern at death. I am interested in your opinion of this phenomena as both an accomplished meditator and a medical doctor.

    Daniel: I have seen lots of weird things in my life, but have no personal experience with the rainbow body. I know people who claim to have seen it. I am not sure what to make of this. I keep an open mind about things I don’t yet have experience with. Bigger question: how will the question of the rainbow body impact your practice here and now today? I have had no direct experience with it and no definite opinion on it and yet my practice has somehow been extremely powerful and satisfying despite this lack. Still, I can see how achieving it might inspire others who were very into rainbows to practice well.

    PAA: Following on from looking at these subjects from a modern scientific perspective. What have you learned from using EEG machines in practice? Can they reveal much about the process of enlightenment?

    Daniel: The science of EEGs and enlightenment is still in its infancy. I am just starting to get preliminary analyses of some meditation runs I have done on and off retreat with my Cognionics Quick-20R dry EEG machine, and it is very interesting but too early to say much. Numerous attempts have been made to correlate EEG and meditation, and much of it is probably not great science. We will attempt to improve on this with study using EEG, MEG and fMRI at Harvard with data analysis by a neuroscience team at Oxford and the University of Utrecht. Until then, not much to say, as the results are not in. It is clearly a promising technology, particularly as its temporal resolution vastly exceeds fMRI, and should hopefully allow the precise micro-phenomenology for which the high end of the Theravada practice world is well-known to have some practical utility, but the jury is still out.

    PAA: You mention many models of practice in your book MTCB2 energetic, non dual etc. But I would like to ask about the actual process of ‘change’ from what we were to this enlightened state. Do you see it as a biological process rooted in the nervous system? Or is it something outside of the body?

    Daniel: Clearly, there is some connection between the “brain” we perceive as being in our heads and aspects of consciousness, as anyone who has ever had or given someone else anesthesia knows. However, I personally maintain a strict ontological agnosticism regarding models of what is “truly going on” and only adopt ontological frames if there is some clear practical use case for them, as they help solve some practical problem, and even then hold them extremely lightly. Clearly, there is enough data to know that there appear to be differences between, say, advanced meditators and non-advanced meditators in terms of their ability to, for example, hold their PCC (posterior cingulate) either activated or deactivated as measured by an fMRI. I have taken part in these studies at Yale and U Mass and soon, coronavirus permitting, to take part in them at Brown University, and can tell you that it is possible to correlate certain focuses of attention to various brain structures. That said, this is all related to temporary states, and we have essentially no data on “enlightenment” in these contexts, so I can’t say more at this point. What is the practical use case?

    PAA: The 4 Elements are used as the foundation of everything we do in Franz Bardon’s first book. I am interested to hear more about the Kasina practice with the elements, you have written extensively on the effects of the fire kasina but could you share a little about your experience with other elements also? You mentioned this briefly in one of your journals.

    Daniel: Ok, yes. I can definitely tell you the following:

    Doing fire kasina practice gave me an appreciation not only of the fire element but also of the other three (or really 5 if you count space and consciousness, as the Buddhists sometimes would).

    It increased the sense not only of what they were at the ordinary level but also at the magical level, such as beginning to experience them as conscious entities, with their own sometimes interactive divinities, with their own realms that I have visited, with their own magical meanings. This was an organic process that is hard to explain, and it appears to have simply resulted from just doing very simple practices in high doses.

    I get much more cold tolerant and sometimes unnaturally hot when I do fire kasina practices for long enough. For example, when I first went to the Tower of Hallbar retreat, in February in Scotland in a poorly-heated, damp, heavy stone defensive tower, when I first got there I was all bundled up in fleece and heavy socks, but, within about a week, I was talking around barefoot in a t-shirt and sweatpants and still feeling to hot.

    Elemental balance is important, which can be as simple as taking baths when doing fire kasina, putting your hands in a cold stream, taking the air element as a focus of practice at times, walking on the earth, particularly barefoot, etc. This initially seems insane, yet, if you don’t do it, things can get rapidly out of hand when doing one element practice, and, if you do do it, things suddenly start to rebalance and work better, so, if you do elemental practice, keep this in mind. My best fire kasina retreat was actually at a largely deserted beach where I also spent time gazing out at space, sitting on the sand taking it as objects, and playing in the water and just watching the waves as object.

    Reverence and prayers and the like to elemental deities are a good idea if you want to go deeper into the possible effects, but just remember what the elements are about and don’t expect them to be otherwise.

    Questions from the community (Unedited)

    PAA: Does he believe the attainments required by the mastery of spirit exercises in step 1 i.e. mastery of thoughts, can only be achieved by long years dedicated to shamatha meditation? I.e. complete vacancy of mind for ten unbroken minutes.

    Daniel: See above, as it is answered there. Still, one can get into some very powerful magical states and effects and still have some subtle aspects of thought operating.

    PAA: what methods of soul purification do you use to attain astral equilibrium so you can practice at a higher level?

    Daniel: Wow. That’s a really complex topic. The first thing that comes to mind is that most people don’t practice basic morality training (sila in Pali) all that well, and so those habits then infect their formal meditation and magical practice. If you are angry a lot, having lots of guilt, regret, desire, etc. all day long, then these habits will naturally carry over into your other practices. So, if you want to have good meditation practice sessions, build good habits the rest of the day. Take care of business and yourself. Forgive whenever possible without being a doormat.

    Have your daily To Do list taken care of, or at least made, before you start to practice, so that your mind isn’t burdened with those issues then. Don’t expect magical experiences and meditation to fix most of your real world problems, and be sure you have a real-world plan that you actively and realistically work to implement instead, as this will let the other parts of your mind rest assured that they can relax. It is typically the boring, painful, ordinary, tedious basics that people want to try to transcend through elaborate rituals and fancy concepts, but in this they often go astray. Do the boring, tedious, embarrassing, ordinary stuff that needs to be done. Have that painful conversation you have been needing to have. Make sure your room and work spaces are clean. Listen to those nagging feelings that tell you that you are on the wrong track or avoiding something and change direction instead of looking for some fancy magical solution to solve your problems. Be sure your real-world actions align with your higher ideals, as conflict therein is meditation poison. In short, get your ordinary shit together first.

    I also do a lot of brahma vihara practices, and it is important to do all four of them. Check out Sharon Salzberg’s Loving-kindness, the Revolutionary Art of Happiness. I also like the book You Are A Badass, by Jen Sincero. If you chronically appear to sabotage your life, check out Scripts and Drivers in the book TA Today, by Vann Joines and Ian Stewart.

    Daily exercise just helps all sorts of things. A clean diet is also highly recommended. My guess is that 70% of the major health problems could be prevented by people only putting skillful things in their mouths, and 70% of political and social ones by people skillfully regulating what comes out of their mouths.

    PAA: I want to know if he has any experience with vampiric and draconian entities and if so thoughts on their origins and shamanic techniques vs meditative in their confrontation.

    Daniel: Yes, and that is a very long topic about which I do have reasonable experience, unfortunately. How to deal with toxic, dangerous, malignant entities is complex. There are many ways to work, many possible levels of response, and it very much depends on you and the nature of the entity and what it is doing. First, many such interactions are obviously caused by the person themselves to some degree, as they clearly invited them in and maybe even attempted some sort of deal or contract with them, so the simplest first move is to either not do this to the degree that you are able or at least take responsibility for your part of the tango. Next, don’t let the entity’s bad karma and actions lead to you creating bad karma and actions whenever possible, meaning, whenever possible, respond skillfully and kindly rather than angry, vicious, etc. You could attempt some dialogue that expresses your wishes straightforwardly, such as to stop sucking your energy, for example, at least as a preliminary step, and presuming you had the time. The Buddha, for example, recommended strong boundaries and keeping good company but also options such as sending them loving-kindness and also teaching them the Dharma, in particular the Law of Karma, such that they might learn and change their evil ways. That said, creature all have their own nature, and their nature might just be the way it is, so don’t imagine this solution will always work. Basic dissolving of contracts as well as ordinary measures such as circles of protection and the like are obviously standard moves worth trying. If these fail, and kinder measures fail, then at this point I am comfortable with a realpolitik response, as we all have the right to defend ourselves when under attack. If at all possible, go with a Compassionate Exorcism style approach, which you can Google Search for lots of information on, but, if that doesn’t work, then tactics such as simply blasting them out of your space, formal old-school command and control-style banishing, and the like, are all reasonable approaches at that point. Any port in a storm. Afterwards, might have a good look at yourself and ponder what about you attracted that sort of interaction and what you can do about it to try to prevent it in the future. Friends might be able to help with this, as might a simple divination, etc.

    PAA: What methods can he teach to an astral magician who will not use prop’s and con’s in spirits evocation and the same want to create astral amulets, astral magic rings that will function more than those in use by the shaman ? Has he ever practiced astral magic in its full details ?

    Daniel: I get the sense that this question is referencing some specific texts and systems that I am not that familiar with somewhere in its assumptions and background. I am also not sure what variety of shamanism they are referring to, as the topic and varieties are vast. Also, my guess is that there is a specific system of astral magic whose details they are thinking of, and so my answer is probably “No, likely haven’t practiced whatever system you are thinking of in its full details.” Some underlying background would probably help, as it is a very large, vague question that likely has some more specific, practical question behind it, I suspect.

    PAA: In Bardon’s system we first observe our thoughts. Only when we reach the capacity to observe our thoughts for 10 minutes without any distractions nor identifying with them we are allowed to move to the next exercise that consists in maintaining one thought and further the vacancy of the mind.

    For some people the first exercise tends to be more difficult than the second ( one though meditation).

    In your opinion what’s the best approach to reach the vacancy of the mid? Why not identifying with our thoughts can be more difficult than keeping attention into our breathing for example? What should be done first? Do you have any crutch/prop to recommend that may help us to reach these goals?

    Ps: My apologies if I didn’t make myself clear, English is not my first language, you can edit the question to make it more “understandable” if you want.

    Daniel: One of the helpful tricks I have learned that is simple but effective is noting, specifically to just note “thinking” when noticing that one is thinking. It is obviously a thought, but, as many have noticed, it turns the power of thoughts into part of the solution, as, if one does this long enough, particularly with some other part of the practice involving attempting to focus on something, such as fire kasina, then the mind will begin to simplify, settle down, and become much more workable.

    PAA: Knowing what’s in IIH, I’d love to know what synergistic practices he sees for those who walk the path that could enhance development and performance through flow.

    Daniel: That’s again a huge question and too vague to easily answer. However, I can say this: most magical practitioners are just not getting concentrated enough, and, for most, to get concentrated enough takes about 70-150 hours over a very short period of time, such as a week or 12 days or something like that, such as we do on fire kasina retreats, which is why we do them. My capabilities for immediate, immersive, palpable, hearable, seeable magic go vastly beyond my baseline capabilities when I have paid my entrance price and am powered up on retreat. If you haven’t seen what that is like, do yourself a favor and do a retreat like that, realizing that it is not entirely safe and heeding the warnings, and, if possible, having a group of sane, reasonable friends around with some “trip-sitting” skills, as those will serve you well.

    Best wishes,

    Daniel

    PAA: Massive thanks to Daniel for spending so much time answering these questions.

    The Three Transformations – Free Course

    The ancient Chinese sages spoke of jing, chi and shen. The Hermeticists of old spoke of vital, astral and mental energies. Both spoke of ways to convert one energy into another. And the Three Transformations were born!

    Ever wonder how to do this exactly? Wonder no more. It turns out this is not some mysterious thing that exists only for the greatest of saints. All the details behind how to convert one of the basic natal energies into another, why you would want to perform the Three Transformation and the various issues involved are included in this SixtySkills course.

    Join the Course
  • Taoist Magic and Franz Bardons Tradition: A Discussion with Jason Read

    Taoist Magic and Franz Bardons Tradition: A Discussion with Jason Read

    Today we have an interview with Jason Read, someone who has undertaken a very interesting course of study in Asia, he is a student of Franz Bardons work and the author of what I think will be some very interesting books on hard to find subjects within Taoist Magic, due to be released in the coming years. I hope that as more information comes out about his books we can do another update, but for now we have his insight on some questions I raised primarily focusing on Bardons work, for the Taoist segment of this interview scroll down to read about the training Jason received. Be sure to visit Jason’s blog after reading the interview. Update: Here is his new website.

    PAA: Please introduce yourself and let us know how you found the teachings of Franz Bardon.

    Fraternal greetings. Well I’m Jason Read, and I expect a few people know me through my work in Chinese folk magic rather than Hermetic endeavors. I found Bardon in my early twenties after having gone the usual route …you know…Dion Fortune, Israel Regardie, Crowley and the usual resources available in the 1990s. Back then Bardon was not very well known and I ordered his books from an advertisement I found in an astrology magazine of all places. I quickly realized that this was a logical system with definite goals and devoid of obscuration of method.

    PAA: Many have problems with the early steps like VOM in step 1 and the visualization exercises in step 2 (These are exercises in the first manual of Franz Bardon ‘Initiation into Hermetics’ often called IIH). What advice would you give to help students pass these steps?

    I expect most people say this, but stick with it. I think the alchemists speak of this in terms of fixing the volatile. Sustaining a concentrated image is hard work, and to make it real is even harder. Think of it in terms of alchemy. The imagination /mind is like Mercury, but the passion and sustained discipline is like sulfur that fixes the image so it becomes crystallized, salt. Yet don’t be rigid and tense in the visualization, relax into it, enjoy it. As alchemy texts say yet again, alchemy is child’s play!

    PAA: What in your opinion are the crucial steps of IIH that ensure success and did you follow IIH by the book or did you go your own way with it?

    The key of it all is sustained, gentle effort. The development of character is also important but overlooked by those wanting quick results. In fact the way your visualizations go can quickly indicate psychological complexes that are blocking the free flow of elemental energies. Even niggling muscular tensions as you sit in meditation may be locked in emotional traumas and the like.

    PAA: What challenges did you face during your training in IIH/ PME/KTQ. Was there any specific step that took longer for you than others?

    The most challenging aspect for me personally was inertia. Getting moving in the practice. Another challenge is distinguishing mere vivid imagination with actual ‘mental wandering’. I tend to think students mistake vivid mental impressions with actual experiences in spiritual realms and that can lead to delusion. I did exactly that, until one day there was an actual audible click at the base of my skull and an apparently complete disengagement from normal consciousness. That was a eureka moment for me, and I thought…’’Oh, so that’s it!’’ It’s a world away from my previous controlled fantasizing.

    PAA: Are you able to share anything from your work in the second and third book? Such as experiences in mental wondering? First Evocation etc.

    I had some experiences with invocations of the Elementals as at that time that was my capability in all honesty. Some interesting experiences, and I seemed to work well with Air and Fire in particular. In one experience we used in an experimental fashion, audio tech to record voices, similar to EVP, an experiment others might pursue with more gusto. Some interesting sibilant voices on the background of white noise.

    PAA: You have travelled and studied extensively in Asia. Can you share with us your journey and explain what you learned?

    Well yes. To cut a long story short I ventured to Malaysia and China to learn , specifically magic. By my (Chinese) wife , then girlfriend I was put in touch with a master of the folk magical tradition and studied with him for some 12 years. For me it consolidated alot and dare I say filled in some gaps. I can definitely see some Daoist aspects in Bardon’s work, though Bardon taught it at a basic level. I would say, my teacher, Dr Liang is one of the few people who I met who can authentically demonstrate magic physically.

    PAA: This sounds fascinating, can you give more details about the kind of training you underwent in Asia?

    Yes , of course.

    I will try to quickly summarise the methods used in our particular school, though they do vary from sect to sect. Of course there is also quite a lot that can never be discussed publicly nor printed due to oaths of initiation, what we call ‘Entering the Door’. So first and foremost you have to be inducted or passed through the door. Like many Asian systems you have to receive a transmission from an acknowledged Master who is capable of aligning you to the ancestral reservoir so to speak. You couldn’t just buy a book and hope to succeed in the methods even if they were fully published. It would be like, for example, trying to start up a computer with no electricity. Until you are ‘wired’ you cannot work with the method.

    However this isn’t a guru type relationship where you are ‘worshipping’ the teacher as some kind of living embodiment of a god as in some orthodox system common in Buddhism and Hinduism. So having your transmission or ‘chuan, the next stage is geared towards self-healing. In Daoist belief you have to revert towards , for want of better words, a ‘child-like’ state, something we refer to as the Pre-Heaven Nature. Generally speaking there is a kind of deterioration of the totality of the potential of human beings from puberty onwards. The energetic functions are lost, bits of your soul essence are scattered by trauma and repression, the workings of the energetic system are off balance and so forth. So for the first several months or even years there is work done to retrieve lost fragments of the soul complex and rebalance the energetic system that is represented by the six organs and meridians more well known to acupuncture and other TCM practitioners.

    Another aspect of this is ridding of spiritual parasites, some of which we are born with and

    have various names in Daoist literature, such as the Nine Worms. Another aspect is paying off your debts to the universe. Daoists believe you cannot function magically at your full potential until your debt to the cosmos is paid off. In other words we are all born in a kind of debt. There is a special set of ritual practices designed to do exactly this but due to brevity I won’t go on.

    Having all this complete, and aside from training in the basics of cosmology, and other aspects of Chinese metaphysics, then meditation and neigong can begin. Until the person is ‘repaired’ however, Daoists teach that magic is only a fantasy, and results, if any, are statistical at most. One only has to quickly read any number of ‘astral accounts’ on the occulture internet to quickly realise that those accounts are far more based on a fevered imagination than reality. Daoist esotericism constantly stresses the need for Zhen, reality. Yes, I realise this won’t be a fashionable statement in today’s world of Tik-Tok occultism and entitlement. It is at this point I should mention some interesting parallels to Bardonian magic. They are only parallels though, and we should not read too much into them.

    1. THE LIGHT IN ENERGY TRAINING.

    Getting beyond mere qigong which is an art these days more geared towards health and

    martial arts in most (not all) cases is difficult even in Asia. Due to Sun Yat Sen and Mao

    Ze Dong, much of the magical tradition in China was thrown away or discarded.

    However in the underground are to be found real magical exercises.

    One of these is called Jin GUAN Fa, the Golden Light Method. It is a special magical exercise in which the dizi (student) pore breathes golden light after speaking a special invocation and holding a mudra over the third eye and mentally envisioning a special Seal. (see picture). Particles of Golden Light infuse the body. These particles of pure solar light can be stored at the Yellow Court Centre (solar plexus) or Dan Tian (near navel). Advanced students can direct this light for healing or exorcising Xie (unhealthy qi or Spirits). It can also, in Masters, be seen by other students and even photographed as a golden aura around the master.

    COMPARE. BARDONS LIGHT EXERCISE.

    2. ELEMENTAL BREATHING/ORGANS.

    In five colours of red, green, black, yellow and white, representing fire, wood, water, soil and metal, the master inhales the elemental rainbow to empower, balance and strengthen the harmony of elements within.

    Along with this is associated the conscious centering of mind in corresponding internal organs. Going beyond this he actually communicates with the spirits and intelligences of the organs as entities in their own right. The organs are filled with purifying, life giving elemental essence. This can be extended into magic such as magically induced fire, and healing.

    COMPARE: BARDONS ELEMENTAL BREATHING, TRANSPLANTATION OF

    CONSCIOUSNESS AND ORGAN LOADING.

    3. CONSCIOUS EATING AND DRINKING.

    In Magical training, Taoist fangshi (magicians) are taught an intricate art of empowering food such as fruit, buns (Bao Zi), rice and water for certain aims. A typical one involves empowering water by use of a special seal called Zi Wei. the Seal of the Purple Palace to empower water with a purple essence representing the powers of the Stars. This is drunk and absorbed to help build a tangible magical body. Sometimes talismans are infused with will and entity essence and burned. The ashes were mixed with water, tea or wine and drunk.

    COMPARE:BARDON EUCHARISTICAL MYSTERY.

    4. CREATING MAGICAL ELEMENTALS.

    A basic process in Maoshan is to carve a wooden figure, usually with willow or peach Wood. It is drilled with a central axis from the top of the head (bai Hui) to form a hollow spinal channel. This is filled with special ingredients similar to FLUID OR SOLID CONDENSERS. In special cases the magician will employ ashes of bones of the recently deceased to kick start the operation by using an astral shell of the dead. The magical familiar is cultivated over a period of 49 days and fed a drop of blood, incense, rice etc. The Familiar can work for the magician.

    A highly developed art with many variants in Maoshan.

    Note that all statues and images undergo Kai Guang or consecration using light reflected

    from mirrors, filling with the 8 Treasures and opening the senses with cinnabar.

    In lesser operations a simple paper doll or zhiren or a straw doll of 36 straws is used but

    is opened with cinnabar ink.

    COMPARE BARDON CREATING ELEMENTARIES AND VOLTING.

    5. MAGICAL MIRRORS.

    Many kinds, moon mirrors, sun mirrors. Absorption and projection mirrors. Some are

    convex, some concave and some a flat plane. All are loaded.

    Even the well known bagua mirror has to undergo Kai Guang with cinnabar and ritual or

    it is inert.

    PAA: How does what you have learned from the Eastern approach fit with your experience of IIH? Are you able to combine them or do you practice them entirely separately?

    Some of the methods of IIH and Daoist magic are so similar that there is no need to practice

    them separately. All genuine systems have similar templates so to speak. For example, as well as energy work, visualization, mental and astral travel, we have the use of solid and fluid condensers in both mirrors and small statues made of willow that are used as mediums to converse with spirits.

    PAA: Where do you see your practice going now that you have the experience from both the Western and the Eastern systems?

    These days I am almost exclusively a practitioner of the Chinese system, but I acknowledge my debt to Bardon, who in many ways led me to that path. Bardon’s work also helps me to explain the Chinese system in concrete terms to those westerners who show an interest.

    PAA: Closing thoughts – anything you wish to discuss. This could be advice for practice, information on your own projects like books, podcasts etc.

    Franz Bardon has given a wonderful and genuine system to students. I believe it to be a great foundation for the exploration of other systems as it was for myself. Do not be discouraged when the system takes time to produce results…..they will come!

    As for myself, I am currently writing a series of books via Mandrake of Oxford on the subject of Chinese Magic that goes beyond just theorizing about qigong, martial arts and so on to the meat of actual practice.

    Thankyou for your time!!!

    PAA: Thank you very much for sharing journey with us.

    The Three Transformations – Free Course

    The ancient Chinese sages spoke of jing, chi and shen. The Hermeticists of old spoke of vital, astral and mental energies. Both spoke of ways to convert one energy into another. And the Three Transformations were born!

    Ever wonder how to do this exactly? Wonder no more. It turns out this is not some mysterious thing that exists only for the greatest of saints. All the details behind how to convert one of the basic natal energies into another, why you would want to perform the Three Transformation and the various issues involved are included in this SixtySkills course.

    Join the Course
  • Interview with Ajahn Punnadhammo: Jhana, Stream-Entry and Buddhist Cosmology

    Interview with Ajahn Punnadhammo: Jhana, Stream-Entry and Buddhist Cosmology

    Introduction

    Today we are talking with Ajahn Punnadhammo from ‘The Arrow River Forrest Hermitage’. I was inspired to contact him after my research into Buddhist Cosmology and the states of the Jhana led me to his website. We are just scratching the surface here into what are extremely far reaching subjects. I am very grateful for Ajahn Punnadhammo taking the time to answer these questions. You can visit his site here. The Cosmology book mentioned in the interview can be seen here.

    Here is some background information:

    The Arrow River Forest Hermitage is a Theravadin Buddhist monastery and meditation center located in Northern Ontario, fifty miles southwest of Thunder Bay. We have 92 acres of land in a beautiful mixed forest. There are presently seven all-weather dwelling places on the property as well as a meditation-hall and kitchen, a sauna, library and well-equipped workshop.

    The resident bhikkhu is Ajahn Punnadhammo who has been studying and practicing Buddhism since 1979 and was ordained in Thailand in the forest tradition of Ajahn Chah (novice ordination Feb. 1991, higher ordination Feb. 1992). Between 1990 and 1995 he was based at Wat Pah Nanachat, Thailand. Punnadhammo is a Canadian, born Michael Dominskyj in Toronto in 1955. He began studying the Dhamma under Kema Ananda, the founder and first teacher at the Arrow River Center.

    Interview

    Ajahn Punnadhammo

    PAA: We have your background from your website which is exciting to read, I see you were in Thailand from 1990-1995 and I wonder if you are able to give us insight into what life was like in those 5 years and what if anything stands out as significant events and breakthroughs in your practice.

    Wat Pah Nanachat was an ideal place to train as a young monk. It is the international monastery of the Ajahn Chah tradition set up for his western disciples. The atmosphere is very traditional but the teachings are available in English. It was very inspiring to be living in a Buddhist country where the Dhamma is part of the fabric of everyday life. WPN also has a couple of remote retreat monasteries associated with it and I had the opportunity to spend some time there as well. I especially enjoyed Tow Dtum which is deep in the jungle bordering Myanamar. Living close to nature is a big part of the Buddhist forest tradition, going right back to the Buddha’s time. The South-East Asian forest is very different from the Canadian Boreal forest but both have their unique beauties and wonders.

    PAA: Have the teachings remained as they were in Thailand or have you had to make changes at Arrow River to the way things are done to accommodate Western ideas.

    The teachings as such remain the same. There is necessarily some adaption of the lifestyle due to both climate and culture. Our tradition (Theravada) tends to be very conservative and seeks to preserve the original teachings of the Buddha. Also my personal approach is not to dilute the original message to make it palatable to modern ideas.

    PAA: Within your tradition you use the Jhana as a guide to attainment and increasing stillness within the mind? What is the process and methods you use to achieve each Jhana?

    The basic idea of developing samadhi leading into jhana is to make the mind still. That is the true meaning of the word “samadhi” which is usually translated “concentration.” I have thought for some time that this translation misleads meditators into pushing too hard. The term is defined in the old texts as “non-wavering, stillness, stability.” The practice is to unify the mind on a single arbitrarily chosen object. We usually use the breath although other objects are possible as well. The key skill to learn is the art of non-attention. That is, the meditator must learn to disregard all other objects, whether they be internal such as thoughts or memories or external such as sounds or smells. The key is make the mind open and receptive, but only to let the chosen object in. If this is done persistently the other objects will fade away because one is not feeding them the energy of attention. The mind will gradually disengage from the senses and rest in a unified blissful state. This is jhana.

    PAA: Are the Jhanas something of a prerequisite for Ahartship? If so, how important are these stages/absorptions to one’s progress? I see that they are listed in the Cosmology book.

    Technically yes. There is said to be no enlightenment without jhana. There is however a “bare insight” path which does not pursue jhanic unification but goes straight to vipassana (insight or investigation, a very different meditation). But even the proponents of this method admit there must be at least a single moment of jhana before the realization of Nibbana. It is also clear that when the Buddha spoke about paths to enlightenment the one he mentioned the most was to go through the four jhanas and then to investigate reality upon emergence from jhana. So in summary, while formal development of the jhanas my not be an absolute requirement for enlightenment, it certainly helps!

    PAA: We have words like Samadhi and Enlightenment. From your understanding what does it take to truly embody these words? Secondly if we were able to define these terms would it from the context of Buddism mean that they had freed themselves from the six realms of Samsara? Or would it simply mean they have been able to establish the ‘Right view’.

    I have already said something about the meaning of samadhi. Enlightenment is another odd word choice in English. It’s not really wrong but it doesn’t correspond with any of the common terms used in Pali for the experience. Instead we have vimiutti – liberation or bodhi – awakening. In Abhidhamma it is referred to as magga-phala which means path and fruit. The essence of what is being referred to is the realization of the unconditioned, or Nibbana. Theravada sees awakening as occurring in four distinct stages. The first is steam-entry which is the first glimpse of Nibbana; it is like the curtains part for just a moment. This moment is enough to change the being forever but it is not yet full enlightenment. Before stream-entry it is impossible even to imagine the unconditioned. After stream-entry there is a new understanding of the conditioned, by contrast as it were. Becoming freed of the cycle of rebirth also occurs in stages. The stream-winner is forever freed from the possibility of a lower rebirth and is destined to have a maximum of seven more lifetimes, always in the human realm or higher. The second stage is called “once return” because he is subject to one more human rebirth. Third stage is a “non-returner” and is almost completely purified. He can be reborn only in the Pure Abodes. An arahant or a perfected one will not be reborn anywhere.

    PAA: In Buddism and in your Cosmology book you have written about the universe, beings and even time. How much of this can we take purely as a story from the Pali Cannon and how much can we take it as real information that can be gleaned by anyone with proper practice? For example the beings of the universe mentioned in the cosmology book, are these beings that one could experience contact with given access to the Jhana states?

    In my view it is important to avoid the opposite errors of extreme skepticism and extreme credulity. We should accept our own limitations and not pretend that we actually know how the universe works. Every description of the universe, including the modern scientific one, is just a model. It is not the reality itself which is beyond our comprehension. When someone asks if the devas are real, we can reply by asking “what do you mean by real?” This is a deep question. In what sense is this ordinary human realm “real”? Of course the descriptions in the Pali texts are coloured by the cultural background of India, which was already a rich and ancient heritage in the time of the Buddha. Some spiritually advanced human beings may have had visions or interactions with other realms, but they would inevitably perceive them through the lens of their previous conceptions. A Christian mystic sees angels, a shaman might see ancestor spirits, an Indian saw devas. In regard to such visions, one of the psychic powers that can be developed through mastery of jhana is said to be the divine eye (dibbacakkhu) which allows one to see into other realms of existence. Devas and other such beings may also chose to manifest to humans on rare occasions.

    PAA: We hear in Tibetan Vajrayana and Dzogchen systems one of the highest accomplishments is that of the Rainbow Body (Jalu) where the practitioner dissolves into the 4 elements or a smaller achievement that of the incorruptible body. What are your thoughts on these achievements?

    There isn’t really an equivalent of this in Theravada. The closest thing I can think of is the way the relics (cremated remains) of a dead arahant often transmute into pearl like relics. It is really quite striking.

    PAA: According to the Pali Cannon what are the Sun and the Moon?

    The sun and moon are conceived as vimanas in which devas live. A vimana is like a flying mansion, an aerial and mobile abode of the gods. Hundreds of devas live in the sun and moon and there is a chief deva in each; the sun god and the moon god. They orbit around Mt. Sineru and it is night when the sun is on the opposite side of the mountain from us. The change in seasons depends on a change of altitude of the sun. From time to time the gigantic asura Rahu swallows the sun or moon, terrifying the devas within. But he is unable to hold it for long because of the force of their motion. This is the explanation for eclipses. There is almost nothing in the canon or commentaries about the stars and planets. And it seems that the model described above wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny for the observed motions of the sun and moon. This reveals a significant difference between the Greek and Indian approaches. The Greeks developed their cosmology by looking at the sky and trying to account for the observed motions. This is the tradition we still follow in the West today. In India, the actual sky was of less interest than the internal world of the mind. They developed a cosmology to account for different levels of consciousness and weren’t really all that concerned with the external world.

    PAA: What are some of the things that students can do to make better progress in their practice? Also what advice would you give to practitioners who are not part of larger Sangha and practice on their own.

    The first step must always be to improve your sila (ethical behavior). You won’t get anywhere on the spiritual path if your morality is bad. The next step is to develop a meditation practice. The most important thing here is consistency. It is a very good practice to fix a certain time every day for meditation and to follow it diligently. If you only meditate when you feel inspired you will never get anywhere. Overcoming resistance will strengthen your resolve and we often make the most progress when we overcome defilements like laziness or desire mind. Having a sangha to practice with is very beneficial and anyone seriously interested in spiritual development would be well served to seek out a local group if one exists. If not, there are nowadays a plethora of resources on the internet. The covid restrictions did have one beneficial effect is that it brought many of our monks as well as other spiritual teachers to look into possibilities of teaching on the internet. Every week there are new dhamma talks being uploaded to YouTube and other venues. There are also online discussion groups and forums etc. Find something of the sort that resonates with you and it can be a decent substitute for a local sangha.

    PAA: Is there anything else you would like to say to readers regarding the practice of Buddhism, meditation or the view of the Cosmos?

    One of the traditional meditations that has been largely ignored in the West up to now is devanusati or contemplation of the devas. This is a way of refining and elevating consciousness. It is has a brightening and expanding effect on the mind. I have been experimenting with variations of this practice for some time now. For anyone interested, here is a guided meditation on this theme.

    Rainbow Body, Jalu and the Miraculous (Updated for 2022)
    Perseus Community

    Join the Perseus Community – It is Free!

    A Community for Practicing Magicians, Meditators and Internal Martial Artists

    Please join us, introduce yourself and begin sharing and learning. We have areas covering all aspects of the esoteric from both Eastern and Western traditions, Energy work and Internal training all freely available on the platform. See you inside.

    Join the Community
  • Interview with Bill Hegeman

    Interview with Bill Hegeman

    We would like to introduce William Hegeman (Bill) “Archonstone”. He has been very generous in sharing his journey through the magical arts. Please leave us feedback in the comments and please do share the post if you feel inspired to do so. Contact details for Bill can be found at the of this post.

    PAA: Please introduce yourself and let us know how you found the teachings of Franz Bardon as well as sharing a little more about your extensive background as mentioned on your website.

    William Hegeman (Bill) “Archonstone”. 1983, out of the Marines, couldn’t afford a Community College, struggling financially, I moved from Troy, NY to Albany. I was finally able to afford books as a typist. I think the store at that time was “Blue White Rainbow”. IIH, 777, Magic without Tears, and others I managed to acquire.

    I started having mystical and paranormal experiences when I was 2. At 7 my grandfather came back to say good bye 2 weeks after his passing; and had local earth based creatures visit me also. At 13 I started going to a Baptist church, and practiced meditation and energy work from Evans-Wentz book: “Tibetan Yoga: The secret doctrine”. I lived in an “exit” suburb, with drug gangs, poor, criminal and troubled people. My family had its own issues. At 14 I did a progressive fast 40 days and prayed for the wisdom of Solomon or God. I saw a physical visual manifestation and got my answer in the affirmative, and said I’d be released in 32 years. El is not Yahweh. My life was filled with trials and ordeals. There was no shaktipat, or grace. Meditation and energy basics, along with my own visual techniques, I was faced with supernatural adventures where other people saw the same thing I did. Also realized that the “Christian” perception of God was flawed, finite and that there had to be a much larger metaphysical reality. I was 19 then. In my early 20’s in 1983, I had a girlfriend, with a household that had books on Kabbalah, Kyballion, and some Theosophic works. At that time I studied much further. I was a part-time professional reader. I planed walked with a structure based on the symbolic frame work from Kabbalah. I had created fetches , bodies of light or in Bardon’s work Mental bodies, to do reconnaissance and help inform me of the goings on of the Albany tri-city area. Kabbalah and the fetch’s attachments were all traps and I let them go, over a decade, then restarted and creating my own system and methodologies when I moved to Atlanta in 1996.

    PAA: Many have problems with the early steps like VOM in step 1 and the visualization exercises in step 2. What advice would you give to help students pass these steps?

    I can find no reference to VOM in my Bardon Books. I am assuming visualizing excercises. Step 1 I was practicing self control through my meditation exercises since I was 12 or 13. I did conscious breathing pranayama, and Bubble breath. Element Tatwas I had a harder time with. They evoked presences that I had to shut out. I did practice retrospection as a mean for mental body traveling. I agreed with Bardon’s assumption that disturbing the astral matrix can be harmful, and in my experiences would provide a feeding ground for negative vampiric beings in astral projection. Astral traveling pulling reality is not much better. Mental Body work, I call Aspecting and to be functional it has to use Astral accumulated to it to tune into the realms they walk in, and where one can relate the information back, so the energetic patterns can be remembered and not lived.

    I have found that people have affinities for using a limited set of senses that concentration exercises work well with. Visual and physical senses are my primary. Auditory is the worst. All exercises we go back to basics continually to improve ourselves over time. Other senses that get translated to our physical senses develop over time as you develop a symbolic, mental/emotional patternings that mean something to you. Kabbalah is convenient system, building your own requires a lot of introspection and study. In an energetic framework, systematic contrived systems usually fall short to the social contextual framework one lives in. Excercising whole frameworks to work with egregores of divine, supernal/ infernal egregores, one can compartmentalize it, and work detachment and withdrawal, and choose other dynamics as one develops. I like the Tibetan or chi-gong expression for Bubble or Bell breathing better than the description of Pore Breathing.

    PPA: Additional follow up on VOM from Bill.

    My method is different than either observing the river method, or pure will which is what I started out with. Having a good potbelly breath and using the stillness at the end and top of the breaths, helps.

    The idea that people today can still their mind and emotions is excessively difficult. The traction of distractions makes an ingrained habit. I use a Taoist Longman tradition of using judgement of mindful meditation. Proper Asana sitting with buttocks rolled forward and underneath so to take stress off of the psoa muscles sitting straight. Then have the chest expanded and hanging, breath the 4 square pot belly breath. starting with a count of four, Breathe in count of 4, hold at the top of the breath, breathe out for a count of 4, hold at the of the breath for a count of 4. The mind is like having a 2 year old running around the house of hoarders home with memories and impressions from the day we were born. Every thought or emotion that comes up, if it is yours own it, box it, categorize it, good bad or indifferent, labels and categories of your choice. What is not your detach from it, this is not mine let it go. After a mediation session, a standing sun stretch holding on to you, letting go what is not you with a modified and modest horse stance, bending knees, and pushing hands to the earth, letting go and grounding out what is not you. After 2 – 6 months, one is likely to have nothing come up and one can sit in silence, in a void. This and other techniques to manage the energy in the body, detaching the energetic issues in the body, and mindfully managing what has been sorted out. This is to help energy in the body and resolve previously categorized thoughts and emotions. Then do the same with Taoist microcosmic orbit breathing. These techniques are in my book. It explains how we hijack the body’s autonomic system to assist in the process, by breath, asana and recognition of the emotion and energy connection in the body.

    PAA :What in your opinion are the crucial steps of IIH that ensure success and did you follow IIH by the book or did you go your own way with it?

    I worked the concentration exercises. Some were inherent, I had been using them. Identifying and breathing the elements, because I saw them as phases, that didn’t work for me. Charles Luk’s book on Chi Gong: Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality, made more sense. Breathing in Yin type of elements, work better for physical and spiritual integration. The western elements work better for Yang elements methods of controlling yin.

    I went my own way. The description of electric versus magnetic a western way to describe masculine and feminine energies with Pingala and Ida didn’t make sense. I realize that science, western culture, and the time Franz wrote these books, it was probably the best way to describe biomagnetism (which was a popular means of talking about spiritual energy at the time) given the time. What concerns me is that a lot of the writing seems to be heavily influenced by theosophists or more likely the interpretation into English was done by someone heavily influenced by Theosophists. My studies of Eastern schools of yoga and western schools of magic, theosophists made a mishmash of things to sell spirituality to the west. Eventually I had to go my own way. The Victorian poetry of Crowley was filled with metaphors that only literature and divinity PhDs could keep up with. Taoists and Hindu writings are filled with similes and cultural metaphors. After deep studies I’ve been able to tease out the salient meanings in them. PAA: What influence has the practice of Franz Bardons Hermetics had upon your life?

    The most important thing I got out of Franz Bardon’s works was his systematic methodology of practice and discipline. Hinda and Taoist Yogas also put that at the forefront. His methodology of systematically developing practices and exercises and building upon them, to develop the self. Self examination, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually and the use of the minds perceptions and analysis, to create a control of the spiritual practices. Also to order the mind and develop self discipline to control behaviors in context. The magical and spiritual mindset people have they tend to loose their way when they have to work with the blind public. The body, memories and faculties we loose when we pass. Disciplines, desires and personality are spiritual dynamics that we carry from life to lifetime. His methodologies keep that as a priority whether he had good direct information from Hindu yogi’s/guru’s or not. There were nuggets of information that the theosophists managed to get into the west. People’s interpretations and summaries, were filled with parochial and western lenses that were highly flawed. He managed to pull the nuggets out of the wash.

    PAA: What challenges did you face during your training in IIH/ PME/KTQ. Was there any specific step that took longer for you than others?

    I think I covered IIH in the previous answers. KTQ I don’t own a copy. There are plenty of other contemporary books and authors on Kabbalah. PME I didn’t practice. Nor have I ever made a practice of evocations. My personal history with El and other spirits who would interact with me but not speak to me, was a concern. That mystery of why I have since unraveled. Fighting demons, I can force them to speak, but they avoid me like a plague. Only if they are held in space by magicians, can I force them to communicate Evocation based on Western or Kabbalistic practices, requires an invocation of divine presence to effectuate the egregore where the respective spirits can be summoned. I have spent much of my life contemplating my relationship with that being and beings of their respective systems.

    PAA: Are you able to share anything from your work in the second and third book? Such as experience of specific spheres via mental wandering or your first evocation? And Yet, with all the caveats and hesitations, I still do plane walking. There are natural planes, with various time skews, and affinities to geography, earth based, underworld and overworld, that are not inundated by parochial influences of heaven/overworld, hell/underworld, or spheres of deities and or their pantheons. I found that mental bodies that are attuned to specific spheres and or realities that are heavily influenced by divine egregores and the cultural contexts, can be a trap and an anchor to those realities. By 1990 I had to let them all go and detach from them.

    Instead I created mental bodies at 8 compass points, zenith and Nadir, that I keep constructed and have them interface with any number planes. It is a constant practice. This pattern is repeated 26 times so I have 296 aspects to work with. All are shielded. Each has access to planes around the world, angle, speed, skew, overworld or underworld. At times they intersect with patterns from people and divine contexts that they identify with. Magic and its limitations depending on the attachments and detachments you choose, is a deep study. I prefer that these aspects do the work directly in whatever spheres of influence. Silence even from, to and around spirits, are necessary for magical operations. It is great if they are in agreement and act in congruence with your volition. When they are stymied and restricted because the control and edicts from the egregore, denies you access in any shape or form. Well that is past lifes, history, and more. For the sake of understanding and moving forward, I won’t get into what I think my hagiography might be.

    PAA: I see from your website that you have vast experience with different systems and traditions. How have these impacted your work with IIH/PME and KTQ?

    When one works at the Great Work, all things blend together. When you perceive non-duality, methods, apprehensions and dynamics, there is a truth in all of them. Your own personal context if worked to the degree of discipline one creates from trial and error what works best for themselves.

    PAA: Do you think they have made things easier?

    IIH more so has made things immensely easier. The step by step development of practices is a requirement for any one experienced or not for spiritual, mental or personality development. Most schools or traditions don’t have that. Books tend to pick practices by the type of development or by the traditions for the symbol set. PME, and its methodology, and studies from other practices have put me in the mindset to create my own.

    PAA: Were there any areas that clashed?

    The idea of electric and magnetic aspects of energy, while it fit the time of the writing, and appealed to the scientific terms of the time, it doesn’t fit. Mesmer and static electricity the affects and feelings are directly yang energy. Equivalating that to Astral or even the term astral I find misleading. It is a product of the time. Aether and astral were terms built from medieval and renaissance magical treatises and brought up to date of the time of the 19th and 20th century neo-romanticism recrafting magical traditions. It doesn’t help the idea of Spirit and Soul was turned inside out by the catholic church, and terms like astral, having people focusing on heavenly bodies, or spheres that can have both overworld and underworld influences, not separating the masculine for controlling the feminine presence and substance of spirit, and calling it soul. While spirit is relegated to the spark of god, giving over the soul to one spiritual egregore or demesne, all the other possibilities and proper designations spirit are ignored. Greek, Hebrew, and even translations of other cultures have misconstrued spirit and soul. Soul is the expression of your immortal being in the world. Spirit is everywhere in everything and there are technical terms for it and its function in Hebrew, Greek and other cultures. Calling it astral, light, spirit interchangeably does not fit. This is one of the things that I am quite pedantic about. Having this clarity it helps me make clear comparisons between other systems.

    PAA: If you could go back in time and give yourself some advice on how to best approach the journey of these books, what would it be?

    Like anything practice, practice and experiment and see what works. Study everything. I wish I had these books when I was 14. My IIH was printed 1975 and PME 1981. Enid Hoffman’s book “Develop Your Psychic Skills” wasn’t available then either.

    PAA: Closing thoughts – anything you wish to discuss. This could be advice for practice, information on your own projects like books, podcasts, website etc.

    Meditation, 4 square pot belly breath, breathing with just the diaphragm, to quiet the mind, ask yourself, is thought or emotion mine, yes or no. If yes, label and order it. No let it go. Ground it out. Instead of quieting the mind by force, one develops the discipline of control of the mind and emotions, observes them, and then can interpret energy and senses from what is not you and where it comes from.

    Questions for analyzing the body inch by inch, how does it feel, flow and connect at each step of the breath. And more is it me or not me. A good way to clear the body of energetic influences that are not your own.

    Practice Bell or bubble breath for energy accumulation as pore breathing. Erect and comfortable sitting posture with a full yogic breath, 4 square breath while using the ribcage.

    These meditation techniques and the section on Internal Alchemy ordering, and managing mind, emotions and conscious control of evolving personality and ego to work with one’s spirit and magical experiences or journeys is in the book.

    I hope in my book the step by step method of developing the mind, spirit and magic in successive steps that build on each other could be compared to Franz Bardon’s IIH book. Granted it is different in many ways. The first half of the 20th century industry and personal work ethic was the hallmark of the mindset of the west. Critical thinking, and developing an inquisitive mind has been squashed out of the west or at least here in the United States, that questions and exercises for reflection on the steps to build that has been built into the book.

    PAA: Thank you Bill for your time and generous sharing.

    Perseus Community

    Join the Perseus Community – It is Free!

    A Community for Practicing Magicians, Meditators and Internal Martial Artists

    Please join us, introduce yourself and begin sharing and learning. We have areas covering all aspects of the esoteric from both Eastern and Western traditions, Energy work and Internal training all freely available on the platform. See you inside.

    Join the Community